Dane Thorburn and Nature’s Revenge follows a courageous hero who needs to find out why Dragons are invading their land and why they are after the Princess. What was the inspiration for the setup to your story?

[Matt Galanos]: It was based on a question I asked myself as a result of the ending of the previous book. In Dane Thorburn and the City of Lost Souls, Dane manages to rescue the Princess from an ancient, long-lost wizard prison that no one has ever escaped from in the history of the land (readers will know all the details, so I won’t say any more about it). The question I asked myself was, what would happen if the actual Ruling Elements of Nature themselves (Air, Earth, Fire and Water) – the underlying source of every living thing in the land, did not realise the Princess was innocent and should never have been imprisoned in the City of Lost Souls, and sent their own creatures after her after she was rescued.

The creatures in this book were very intriguing. How did you go about creating them for this book?

[Matt Galanos] I needed to have one creature from each of the Ruling Elements, and I wanted them to be big and scary. A dragon is terrifying enough and a creature everyone knows about, but with the others, I wanted them to have their own special characteristics that would make them unique to this story and difficult to kill. So, after giving it some thought, I created each one:

A dragon – from the Fire Element, with all the fire-breathing and terror that dragons are known for.

A giant kestrel – from the Air Element, much larger than an eagle or any other bird seen in the land before, so large ‘it blotted out the sun.’

A serpent – from the Earth Element, one that was able to blend with its surroundings and where its mouth could spring from its body like a harpoon firing and latch on to its prey.

A sarkoe – from the Water Element. This was my favourite of them all. A ‘sarkoe’ is actually a name taken from an ancient breed of crocodile. To make this one unique and more terrifying, I added the shape-shifting ability and the ability to be equally adept on land as it is in water.

What scene in the book did you have the most fun writing?

[Matt Galanos] I liked all the scenes with the sarkoe – it was such a gruesome and fearsome beast, and if I had to pick a favourite, it was the scene where Dane, Will, Lord Frederick and the rest of the Brindabeare Knights have to fight it.

What is the next book that you are working on, and when will it be available?

[Matt Galanos] I’m working on the next instalment in the Dane Thorburn series, and it should be available in the first half of 2023.

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Original source: https://literarytitan.com/2022/12/03/i-wanted-them-to-be-big-and-scary/