A NEW book by a Bolton author is set to whisk kids off to a fantasy land of talking animals, monsters and fierce battles.

Former journalist Gerry Sammon, from Sharples, is celebrating his first children’s story hitting the book shelves.

Wolf Boy is being released for publication on February 23 and tells to tale of a young boy, Connor, who ends up in a fantastical world of fighting wolves and forest monsters.

The adventure was inspired by Mr Sammon’s daughters, Jessica and Rachel, now aged 26 and 30.

He said: “The idea came from incidents when my daughters were children. Both of them used to have a nightmare of seeing a wolf in their wardrobe when they were very young. I just decided to develop that into a full-blown story. It is really nice for the story to be picked up by the publisher. It shows it might have legs and might run. I will just have to see how well it does.”

The novel is written for children aged between 10 and 13 years and is being produced by Texas-based publisher Black Rose Writers, and will be available in the UK, the USA and Australia.

It has already received praise from US-based fantasy author Aaron Lawler, who described it as having “mystic, Kipling-style dialogues”.

Mr Sammon was a journalist for 35 years and now teaches journalism and media law at the University of Central Lancashire and at Manchester Metropolitan University. Wolf Boy is his second novel after self-publishing his adult thriller The Royal Deception. The book, which follows the life of a British Special Forces soldier, has now been picked up by London-based publisher Endeavour Press.

Mr Sammon added: “There’s a sequel to it now in the very early stages — and there could well be a sequel to Wolf Boy too!” Wolf Boy will be available from major book sellers in paperback, and on eBook platforms, including Amazon and Apple.