Hello!
I’m Adam Linley, an illustrator with artwork published by Penguin, Scholastic, MacMillan, Pearson, Ladybird, Usborne and many other companies.
I’m also the author of the Prism Saga. This is the story of how that came to be.
Early days
“The Time Tube”
My first ever book! Written, illustrated and stapled together when I was 8. Time travel, even then.
“Alpha 12” and “Alpha 13”
My first series - age 10. Inspired by Star Wars? Maybe just a little…
Write, write, write
I qualified as a graphic designer and still work as an illustrator to this day, but I never stopped dreaming up stories in my spare time. I’ve written an ‘unreliable narrator’ thriller (under a different name), a spy thriller, a spoof fantasy novel, and - with my brother - a cartoon series called Smarmalade’s, which starred a little green chef from outer space.
One of those Smarmalade’s adventures featured fiery villains and a giant prism during its spectacular finale.
Hold that thought.
A prism…
Inspiration
While working for a soft toy company, I happened to design a range of pink and purple cuddly cats. I’m pretty sure that was when a stray thought first crossed my mind:
Everyone knows there are red squirrels and grey squirrels. But why not orange squirrels? Why not gold, or green, or pink, or blue squirrels?
Wait a minute…
What if today’s grey squirrels had, in the past, had brighter colours? What if they’d somehow lost them? What if their colours had been stolen?
That prism came to mind again.
Research
I knew that the great 17th century scientist, Sir Isaac Newton, had used prisms to split white light into all the colours of the rainbow. Could I weave a prism into the mystery I was developing?
I visited his home to find out more. In 1666, Isaac returned from Cambridge University to his birthplace, Woolsthorpe Manor in Lincolnshire, to continue his studies of gravity and light. Why the move? Because Cambridge had been struck by the Plague.
Wait a minute…
Didn’t rats spread the Plague? Rats would make excellent ‘baddies’ for a story with squirrel heroes!
Coincidence?
One thought led to another.
Newton fled the Plague in 1666…
The Great Fire of London was in 1666, too!
Nobody really knows how it started. Most people agree that Thomas Farynor, the ‘baker to the king’ was to blame. But would such an experienced baker really leave one of his ovens burning by mistake?
Wait a minute…
Could there be another explanation? If so, a burning city would make one heck of a dramatic backdrop for the story!
Unexpected angles
Tinker’s Prism became the story of the ginger squirrels. It takes place amidst a previously unknown, secret history of the Great Fire of London. It comes to a satisfying end, but many coloured squirrels remain grey.
They still needed to be rescued. There were more stories to be told! Where - and when - would I set them?
Wait a minute…
What if I could twist more of history’s mysteries by looking at them through squirrel eyes?
My research led me on adventures of my own: to a shipwreck in Portsmouth, a castle by Loch Ness, a waterfall at Mother Shipton’s Cave, a sun-temple in Mexico, the summit of Mount Vesuvius, Neanderthal cave dwellings at Creswell Crags and even into the tomb of Tutankhamun.
One story ends…
I finished the first draft of Tinker’s Prism a scarily long time ago, in 2004.
I finished the sixth and final book, Mophisto’s Dreams, in 2025.
21 years! Crazy - but between those dates I married, moved house, had a daughter, wrote several picture books and two other novels, and paid lots of bills! Several design jobs, a year as a trainee teacher and a freelance illustration career paid for life but slowed me down. If only I had a time machine…
But here we are, at last. The Prism Saga is complete. No loose ends; no plot holes; just thrills, spills, scares and heroics. The fantasy weaves its way through real historical events. When you reach the end, you may begin to wonder…
The evidence is out there. It all fits. Maybe…
Just maybe…
Wait a minute!
What if it’s all true?
I hope you enjoy the books. I certainly enjoyed writing them! If you’ve already been to Amazon and purchased any of the Prism Saga books then I thank you from the bottom of my heart for supporting independent authors. If you haven’t…
Don’t wait another minute!