REAL KINGDOMS

Real Kingdoms is an immersive real life fantasy adventure for children of all ages created by Jonathan Abson. Here  children can come along and experience life through the ages, from the Stone Age to the Saxons and Vikings.

To widen the experience Jonathan proposed creating a series of adventure books to go alongside the outdoor adventures.

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THE BEGINNING

In early 2023 Jonathan joined The School of the Sword, Swindon to learn Italian Renaissance, Sword Fighting. On the same day, fantasy author, Ross Kitchen and illustrator, Darren Leckie also joined the school. At several social evenings, Jonathan expounded on his desire to have a series of books to match his Real Kingdoms adventures. Eventually an agreement was reached, whereby Ross Kitchen would produce a draft of a book for Jonathan, with illustrations provided by Darren.

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THE IDEA

The idea for the series of planned books was simple. Each would follow an adventure that was available for children to undertake at a Real Kingdoms Adventure Session.

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THE FIRST BOOK

The first idea, and one of Real Kingdoms staple adventures was Troll Quest. Here, the children have to chase off a Troll that is terrorising the area.

The first draft, completed in late 2023 was read to children attending sessions, as a means of gauging interest with the story and writing style. The children were already invested in the story and interest was keen.

Having confidence in the story and writing style, it was sent out to be proof read. Once corrections were made, a decision on publication needed to be made.

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FIRST PUBLICATION

After discussions about timings and costs, it was decided to take the self-publishing route.

Short Run Press, based in Exeter, were chosen as our printers and they provided additional invaluable help on formatting a book ready for printing. This resulted in TROLL QUEST being published in December 2023