The King and the Ogre follows a kindhearted king and his gentle ogre best friend as they investigate a group of dragons disturbing the villagers and discover things are not what they seem. What attracted you to using familiar fairy-tale characters such as kings, ogres, and dragons?

I think that such fairy-tale characters would resonate best with young readers, as these characters are often friendly, silly, and altogether familiar. Their personalities, too, are light-hearted, good-natured, and easily relatable, not just to young people, but to everyone in general. The combination of the king and the ogre as lifelong friends in particular is an unlikely and unique pairing that is not often found in such settings, one that I hope will set this story apart from others. And in a setting such as this, silly dragons, simply misunderstood, only add to such uniqueness. As an historian, I have always been interested in the medieval period. To tell a light-hearted story in a fairy tale genre that imparts an important message about kindness, caring, and acceptance has proven to be a wonderful writer’s experience.

The story encourages children not to judge someone by appearance. What do you hope children understand about people who seem different from them?

Simply put, children should embrace the beautiful diversity in the world all about them, explore the differences they discover, and not jump to hasty or quick conclusions or assumptions about others, just because someone looks or acts differently than themselves. This can be said of both the ogre Arlo and the silly dragons that frighten the villagers every year. Below the surface both Arlo and the dragons, as clearly illustrated in the book, have only the very best of intentions at heart. Every new person, every new encounter is potentially a wonderful new learning and growing experience.

The book presents friendship as something that can cross very obvious differences. What does friendship mean to you personally?

Friendship is something to be treasured, absolutely. I have met many people in my lifetime and can proudly point to a handful of lifelong friends whom I consider family. These bonds are equally important and have helped to shape my own life in positive ways. These are important connections that have been there in both good times and bad. Friendships are by no means always easy, and do require an honest and sincere effort, especially in a world that continues to become more and more complex. Friendship is a safe place where we can all go, where we can be ourselves, rejoice in old memories and make new ones with those people who mean the most to us.

Would you like to revisit King Liam and Arlo in future stories?

At present I am concentrating on the writing of another series of fantasy action-adventure novels, a trilogy in fact, though I would not completely rule out the possibility of another adventure with King Liam and Arlo in the future. I am certain that there are other important and kindly life lessons that they could both teach us.

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