I am thrilled to announce today is my stop on the Ultimate Write Reads Tour for Pax and the Missing head by David Parker.

David Barker lives in Berkshire with his wife and daughter and has a passion for stories, sport and board games. In 2014, he attended the Faber Academy and from that had three climate-fiction thrillers published, The Gold Trilogy, Bloodhound Books.

He joined SCBWI in 2018 because as he wanted to shift his focus to a younger audience. HIs MG debut, Pax and the Missing Head published with Tiny Tree was released 12th October, 2023.

Pax and the Missing Head is a middle grade science fiction, dystopian adventure set in 2057.

Blurb

In a country beset by civil war, New London defends itself behind a giant wall. Inside the city, children are forced to work from an early age, except for the lucky few who train to be leaders in the re-purposed Palace of Westminster. 12-year-old orphaned Pax is brilliant at recycling old tech. He enjoys working on the verti-farms and just wants a bit of peace and quiet. But when that is taken away from him, his only hope is to pass a near-impossible exam and join the other students in Scholastic Parliament. There he’ll make new friends and new enemies. He’ll get tested like never before. And he’ll discover that not everything is quite what it seems under the mayor’s harsh leadership.

Blurb from the back cover of Pax and the Missing Head by David Barker

My stop on the tour will take the form of an author interview.

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Hi David,

Welcome to my blog.

To start please tell us a little about yourself and the inspiration for your book Pax and the Missing Head.

I’ve been writing for over ten years now. I cut my teeth on the Faber Academy course in 2014 from which grew a trilogy of dystopian James Bond-like thrillers (The Gaia Trilogy, Bloodhound Books). I first started working on a draft of Pax in 2018. It was inspired (if that’s the right word!) by the deep political divisions in this country and in America following the Brexit vote and Trump’s election win. I began to wonder: what if these divisions led to another civil war in Britain? Pax & The Missing Head is set at a time when the initial fighting has died down and New London shelters behind a giant wall. My vision for this future borrowed heavily from my memories of George Orwell’s 1984. The final piece of the jigsaw fell into place when my enjoyment of Harry Potter fused with my interest in the Palace of Westminster and I wondered: what if this building were a school? Scholastic Parliament was born.

How much research did you need to do for Pax and the Missing Head? Tell us about the most unusual research you did.

The great thing about writing a story set in the future is that you can make stuff up! Most of the weird inventions are loosely based on current trends in technology. But I also deliberately set some trends backwards – the Civil War and New London’s isolation has come at a cost to its citizens. For research, I dug out a map of the internal architecture of the Palace of Westminster. But the oddest thing I researched was how to make a foaming blue snake out of fairy liquid and hydrogen peroxide – a chemistry lesson scene that got cut during the edits.

How do you develop your plot and characters?

Once I had the idea for Scholastic Parliament and a divided Britain, I needed a character. A peace-loving child (Pax is Latin for peace), with no parents (they just get in the way of a child-led plot!) and maybe few friends. I needed him to be excluded, at first, from the other pupils at the school, so I imagined a world when some babies were made in test tubes and used as a form of child labour, which is where we find Pax at first. Then I had to decide who the real villain of the story was and how this person threatened Pax’s hard-working but peaceful future. And since I love stories that have a competition at their heart (like Ender’s Game or Ready Player One), I added that as an element of the school curriculum.

Which of the characters do you relate to the most and why?

There are definitely aspects of myself in Pax, although I am must closer to Samuel than Pax when it comes to rules: Pax doesn’t mind bending them, Samuel is a stickler like me. But my favourite character is probably Roacher – a miniature pet robot that Pax builds once he is enrolled at Scholastic Parliament. I would love to own a Roacher for real!

Do you have any writing rituals?

Once I have figured out a setting, the main characters and a rough outline of a plot, I am ready to begin draft one. There follows an intense month or two of trying to write a chapter every morning. I try to leave the afternoon free for reading (keeping up with the current market and looking for inspiration!) or thinking about any knotty problems I’ve encountered with the plot thus far. The next morning, I’ll read over what I wrote the day before, give it a light edit and then I’m back in the zone to write another chapter.

Is there a particular place you like to write?

I wrote my first novel on the train during my commute home from work each evening. It look about 5 years to finish! These days, I write full time and work from home. I’m lucky enough to have a lovely study with a big desk and a nice view out of the window.

What writing advice would you give to people aspiring to write dystopian adventures?

Whatever aspect of a dark future you imagine, make sure it has some real consequences for the protagonist in your story. Make it especially relevant to that person. For example, maybe we all have to live in high-rise apartments because of rising sea levels and the hero is afraid of heights. And the other thing I always try to do (especially with children’s fiction) is to make sure there is hope. Let your readers see the protagonist making the world a better place. Show them we can all make a difference.

Is there anything else you would like to tell readers about Pax and the Missing Head?

I’m very excited to share my first children’s story with the world. I hope you all enjoy it and please remember to leave a review on Amazon, Waterstones or Goodreads. It makes a massive difference to debut authors. Thank you. And look out for book two next year.

Where is the best place for people to buy your book?

It should be available in all the usual places. Bookshop.org is a great website that supports independent book stores. To order Pax through them visit: Pax and the Missing Head.

Thank you David. I think it is so true that it is always good to be able to read a book that leaves you with a sense of hope. You are so right.

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To find out more about David and his books visits his website: www.davidbarkerauthor.co.uk. You can also follow him on X: @BlueGold201; Facebook: @david.barker.3705157 and Instagram: @barker1397.

I would like to thank Dave from The Write Reads for inviting me on this tour. Thank you.