Newsletter #5 - Of Unchosen Ones and special deals!
Hello! Merry Christmas to you all! I hope you are having a lovely December so far. I’m beginning to wind down a little now and getting exciting things in place for 2026. This will include writing some bonus newsletter-exclusive content for both my children’s and adult fiction – hope you enjoy it!
I’ll make this a short one as I know it’s a busy time of year!
Adults
Players Act 1 @ 0.99p/c
If you’re looking for something to curl up with on the winter nights, then The Players Act 1: All The World’s A Stage is back on offer at 99p/c for the e-book – until 16th January. You can pick it up at the retailers listed here: The Players Act 1 Linkstack
It’s been amazing to see the book storming through the charts this autumn and reaching #1 in all its categories. Thank you so much to everyone who has bought a copy and left a review. Reviews mean a huge amount as they help other readers discover the book and decide if it might be for them, so thank you so much if you’ve left one. If you haven’t, and you enjoyed the book, please do consider leaving one. I’d be very grateful.
I’m enjoying writing for adults alongside my children’s books. It’s allowing me to explore different parts of my voice, new genres, and experiment in various ways. I’m working out some plans for more books for adult readers in 2026. Watch this space!
Kids
I’m over the moon to officially announce the start of my new lower middle-grade fantastical trilogy, kicking off with book 1: The Unchosen One. With magic, mayhem and mischief galore, and a neurodiverse main character, the book explores fantasy tropes and gives them a bit of a prod. This is what it’s about:
When Tassie is announced as the Chosen one, a hero destined to save the day, she realises there’s been a mistake. The calm, meek child described in the prophecy can’t possibly be her! With her best friend, a griffin called Spin, Tassie must embark on an epic (and somewhat chaotic) quest to find the true Chosen One before it’s too late. Unfortunately, she’s never been on time for anything...
I had a great time writing this book (and book 2, which I’m currently editing!) and hope you enjoy it, too. There is a fantastic world to explore, new characters to meet, and a lot of fun along the way.
You can find out more and pre-order the book here: The Unchosen One Linkstack
Out and about
I’ve been enjoying getting out and about lately. A big thank you to Bob Fairbrother for organising the South Devon Book Festival in Totnes, where I had a table with The Players Act 1 and various children’s books. It’s always fantastic to talk to other writers and meet readers.
It was also great to visit one of my childhood libraries, Eastbourne Library, and drop off a copy of The Players Act 1 – now available to borrow! This library meant a lot to me growing up. At this building here, I first encountered a revolving door and thought it was absolutely magical (see a little nod to that in The Unchosen One in 2026!). I did some work experience here at 15 years old, revised for my A-levels here, held book launches here, and amazingly, when I was dropping off Players, someone walked past me with The Secret of Me (illustrated by Sandra de la Prada) tucked under their arm. (If that was you - thank you so much. I hope you enjoy our book!)
That was a very surreal but lovely moment. It's all gone full circle.
Reading - Children’s fiction
The Night I Borrowed Time by Iqbal Hussain. Coming out on 1st January 2026, I was lucky enough to have a sneaky peak at this book. This beautifully-written book is gripping and heartfelt and is about a seventh son who attempts to use time travel to fix the problems in his parents’ marriage, but only makes matters worse.
If you ever have any questions for me, do feel free to contact me through my agent via my website or send me a DM via my social media platforms:
And also now on Mastodon: @amysparkes@wandering.shop
Thank you for your support throughout 2025, whether that’s reading this newsletter, buying, borrowing or reviewing books, or sharing posts on social media. I couldn’t do this without you. Have an absolutely wonderful festive season and speak to you in 2026!