I am really happy to be able to tell you that today is my slot on the blog tour for an exciting new science fiction book for middle grade, Tapper Watson and the Quest for the Nemo Machine by Claire Fayers.

Tapper Watson is just an ordinary Erisean boy who loves adventure stories. But when one of his sixty-seven cousins sends him away on a smugglers’ submarine through the River Lethe to other worlds, he just wants to go home again. On an unscheduled visit to Earth he meets Fern Shakespeare, and a talking plant called Morse, and their adventures begin. And when he finds himself being chased through worlds by a pair of trigger-happy lobster mobsters in search of the mysterious Nemo Machine, Tapper begins to realise that he might not be so ordinary after all…

The beautiful cover illustration is by Becka Moor who has also illustrated two other books I have reviewed on y blog: Book Review: Libby and the Parisian Puzzle and Book Review: Libby and the Highland Heist. Both of these middle grade mystery adventures were written by Jo Clarke.

Claire Fayers grew up in South Wales, went to university in Canterbury, and is now back in Wales where she likes to tramp around castles in the rain, hoping to see dragons. She lives with her husband and two cats who sit on her keyboard and stop her from writing.

When the cats will let her, Claire writes funny, fantastical adventures for children. Her first book Voyage to the Magical North, was Waterstone’s book of the month, and was shortlisted for the Children’s Book Award. Her latest book Storm Hound is set amid the Welsh mountains, combining Norse legend with Welsh myth, dogs, cats and sheep.

My stop on the tour will involve an author interview.

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Hi Claire welcome to my blog. When I found out the title of your latest book. I was really excited. This is the type of book I just love to read so I am eager to find out more about your writing process.

Please can you start by telling us what your inspiration was for mixing science fiction with Greek mythology into a zany children’s book set on a Jules Verne Nautilus-type submarine?

Hi Anita, and thanks for having me on the blog. I came at it from two directions. My first idea was for a story involving explorers who travelled between worlds but lost a memory every time they ‘jumped’. And then, I thought it might be fun to write a heist story, and one of the earliest heist tales ever is Jason and the Argonauts, which I have loved ever since seeing the Ray Harryhausen film as a child.

Greek myth plus memory loss led me to the Lethe – the river of the Greek Underworld which causes forgetfulness. So, the Lethe became my path between worlds and if you’re travelling on a river whose waters can make you forget your own name, you won’t be doing it in a normal ship. A submarine where you can stay safe and dry is far more sensible.

What research did you have to do for Tapper Watson and the Quest for the Nemo Machine?

I hesitate to call it research, knowing how much work other authors have to do. I watched all my favourite old sci-fi movies, read Jules Verne, HG Wells, Asimov etc. And Douglas Adams, of course. I walked around Swansea Bay and took photos (Swansea is the capital of the world in Tapper Watson’s reality.) There was a plan once for a tidal barrage in Swansea Bay. I made the plans more ambitious and added a multi-world research centre.

When it came to Greek myth, I read up on the rivers of the underworld, and I went over the Argonauts’ quest for the Golden Fleece, and picked out elements that I could use (some of them are very well hidden.)

I still haven’t been on a real submarine, but I’ve seen loads of pictures of them.

Does writing energize or exhaust you and why?

Both! I found the early drafts of Tapper Watson hard to write, partly because of what was going on in real life at the time, and partly because I was trying to bring so many different elements together in one story. But then, after Firefly Press had acquired the book, I met my editor and she made a couple of suggestions that seemed to get right to the heart of the story and I flew through a rewrite in six weeks, adding in all sorts of fun extra details.

I find it very hard to switch off from writing, so whenever I hit a plot problem it nags at me constantly until I find a solution. I have had dreams where I’m trying to solve the plot problem and I’ve woken up exhausted, having not solved it. But it’s worth it in the end – there’s nothing better than the moment when a story comes together.

When writing, Tapper Watson and the Quest for the Nemo Machine, how did keep track of your fictional world and characters? Talk us through your planning process.

With the exception of my Welsh fairy tales, every book has started with a list of random ideas. Tapper’s looked something like this:

A secret: I am very bad at writing outlines. My agent wanted to see an outline and sample chapters before I wrote the book and we worked together on many versions of the outline before we agreed I should go ahead and write the first draft.

I have two Word documents, one for the draft and one for all my planning and worldbuilding notes. I find that I get a lot of my ideas when I’m actually writing, so I alternate between my draft and planning documents, noting things down as they occur to me.

Several months later, I had a very messy first draft and a planning document with detailed notes on all my characters and settings. The first draft was actually very different. The villain didn’t work at all so I took him out and rewrote an entire plot line.

My first few drafts are for getting the story right and then I can start filling in the world-building and humour, which is often the most fun part of the process. A lot of the chapters on Zymandia came in the very last draft, for example.

What is the most valuable piece of advice you’ve ever been given about writing?

Write about the things you love. Even if that is octopod scientists, lobster mobsters and submarines that travel between worlds.

Is there anything else you would like to tell readers about Tapper Watson and the Quest for the Nemo Machine?

It’s an epic tale of space smugglers, alien octopods and trigger-happy lobster mobsters where Swansea is the capital of Earth and the number of legs you have really matters. Look out for the Peace Meal – that came from a random word writing prompt exercise I did with a friend.

Thank you Claire for such a fascinating insight into the world of Tapper Watson. I can’t wait to read the next instalment.

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You can find out more about Claire and her books on Facebook: @clairefayersauthor, on Instagram: @clairefayers, Twitter @clairefayers and on her Website: www.clairefayers.com

To purchase a copy of Tapper Watson and the Quest for the Nemo Machine by Claire Fayers you can buy direct from Firefly Press: https://fireflypress.co.uk/books/tapper-watson or your local independent bookshop, or online at

Check out the schedule below to follow the rest of the tour.

I would like to thank Claire’s publicist Graeme Williams from Graeme Williams Marketing for inviting me to take part in this blog tour. Thank you.