Stephen Palmer's Blog, page 3

Out Now!

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CDs Arrived

The CDs which accompany my newly published I Am Luna have arrived. If you want to reserve a copy of the book with a CD, contact me here.

I Am Luna Out Today

If you’d like a signed copy, or a copy with the CD of songs, do contact me here.

Out today!

Luna Proof

It has arrived…

More Lunar Photographs!

The Goddess Luna

Here are a couple of photos from the Shrewsbury Museum Lunar Exhibition of 2023.

I Am Luna – The Blurb

Here’s the back cover copy for the upcoming book…

In his book I Am Taurus, Stephen Palmer told the story of the Sacred Bull. Now he tells the tale of the Moon, from the rock shelter of Abri Laussel 30,000 years ago to Neil Armstrong’s first step upon its surface.


Our nearest astronomical neighbour has been a source of myth and of stories since the emergence of the human species, but it is also a canvas for us to imagine ourselves upon. In I Am Luna, we can view ourselves through the eyes of the Moon.

I Am Luna Cover

Here then is the cover design for I Am Luna, which is published on 24th April. The illustration is ‘Lady Moon’ by Tom Brown, the outstanding steampunk artist whose work has graced seven of my novels. This is an illustration he did for a song written by his partner, the musician Talis Kimberley.

I Am Luna is being published as the book, and as the book plus a CD of songs I wrote on various lunar themes. More details to follow!

Midway by Anne Barrett

This children’s/YA novel from 1967 was Anne Barrett’s final published book. A little known author these days, her novel Midway I picked up on my birthday Puffin Trawl in Hay-on-Wye. I chose it for the cover and the blurb, which spoke of a lonely boy and his imaginary tiger.

And it’s a really good novel! Written in an intensive, immersive style that emphasises our hero’s anxieties, thoughts and feelings, it tells the tale of Mike Munday, overlooked middle son of a genius father and absent artist mother, whose elder siblings outperform him and whose younger twin siblings get more love. But one day, Mike discovers an amazing and gorgeous tiger, whom he names Midway. As Mike unexpectedly accompanies his father alone on a working holiday, the scene is set for a journey of self-discovery in rural countryside, where he meets the confident girl Tilney and wood-dweller Watty, whose lifestyle involves a farrowing sow and much else besides.

But it’s the relationship between Mike and Midway that is the heart of the book. Midway embodies what meek, unconfident and lonely Mike would like to be: sleek, successful, and most of all – visible. In the end, as a plot involving academic envy and associated shenanigans unravels, Mike, with the help of his imaginary tiger, finds himself in a position from which he might save the day… but can he?

This one comes highly recommended from me. Imaginative, compelling, and a moving depiction of childhood loneliness and confusion, it deserves much more attention – so here I am, shining a spotlight on it.

You will have to find this secondhand if you want it, but there are Puffin copies out there available right now. Seek and you shall find!

Why You Should Read…

Why You Should Read Children’s Books, Even Though You Are So Old And Wise by Katherine Rundell

This is basically an essay, but, wow, what a good one! It’s 63 pages in big type in a short, small book, but you do get value for money. Katherine Rundell is a well-known children’s author, who here makes a declaration in favour of children’s writing and the continued reading into adulthood of children’s books.

It’s really all about finding and re-finding what children’s writing offers: access in distilled form to the fundamentals of our lives, which, in too many cases, we forget or ignore as adults. Fear, joy, awe, hope (especially hope) are all condensed in the best children’s writing. As Philip Pullman put it: there are some themes so important, so large, they can only be dealt with in a children’s book.

This lovely little book reminds me of Karen Armstrong’s A Short History Of Myth, which in similar style condensed a life’s wisdom into one slim volume. Is this one worth £6.99? If you have it – yes! Don’t hesitate.