Richard was born in Ilkeston in Derbyshire, UK and lives in Sutton Coldfield in the West Midlands. He works as a General Practitioner (family doctor)with a North Birmingham practice. He is 43 and married with two children.
He is a Young-Adult sci-fi, historical fiction and historical fantasy writer. He also writes book and board game reviews and online articles on historical and gaming related topics. He owns his own small publishing house, Mercia Books and is part of a board game design house Medusa Games.
A keen player of board games and other games he is one of the directors of UK Games Expo (the UK’s largest hobby games convention). He is a board game designer and his first Board Game, ‘The Great Fire on London 1666’ was published by Medusa Games and Prime Games in October 2010.
Author website: http://www.richarddenning.co.uk
Tomorrow’s Guardian Review
When schoolboy Tom Oakley discovers he can transport himself through time, he draws the attention of evil men who seek to bend history to their will.
Tom’s family are obliterated and he soon faces an impossible choice: To save the world he must sacrifice his family.
Tom Oakley is a normal boy, growing up with friends and family until he starts having funny turns, hallucinating about jumping in time an space as well as dreams where he finds himself in other peoples bodies reliving the terrifying final moments of their lives he starts to think that he is going mad. Add to this the general concerns of bullying, school work and the life a young boy on the cusp of becoming a teen he starts really worrying about his mental well-being.
Mixing in historical fact and real characters to the story Richard Denning has created a fantastic yarn that educates as it entertains. The historical detail is richly detailed and described, from the battle formations of the Zulu armies to the Great Fire of London.
What really made the story stand out for me was the opposing side – all good time-travel stories have an adversary and Tomorrow’s Guardian is no exception. Captain Redfeld makes a brilliant counterpoint to Tom’s guide Septimus who has less than pure ideas on how to usehis power. Redfeld is open about his desires to use his powers to change the world rather than for personal enrichment, making offers that Tom struggles to reject.
Battles across time have been done before and the ultimate enemies have been around for some time but all the concepts are neatly handled. The choices Tom is faced with are as old as time itself – using power for the good of all or the good of a few and how fart would you go to protect loved ones.
Tense and gripping stuff – Tomorrow’s Guardian is a classic time jumping yarn that mixes high adventure, historical fact with a nail-biting finale. This book will be fantastic for pre and early teen readers that love action adventure with a dash of history and mystery.
View other stops on Richard Denning’s blog tour here
