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Meet S P Grey... S P Grey - or Simon Grey - lives and works in York, where he has lived since studying at York University over 20 years ago. He is 42. Simon spends most of his spare time in various York cafes, where he wrote most of The Last Vikings and The Return of Sigurd the Dragon Slayer. The Last Vikings was his first fiction book. Simon took eight years to write
it and its sequel, The Return of Sigurd the Dragon Slayer, going through
several complete re-writes!
"I got the idea for the books after a day 'doing the tourist trail'. That day I went to Yorvik Viking Museum and bought Mark Jones's excellent book, 'A Walk Around the Snickelways of York'. I'm not sure precisely when it happened, but slowly an idea formed in my head about Vikings still living in York and travelling across the city, unseen by us townies, via the invisible snickelways. "I have always been interested in history and Viking mythology, and York as a city has fascinated me for most of my life. Slowly it all came together and I wrote the books. Part of the reason I wanted to write the books was to pay tribute to a city I love, a city which is my home. Sometimes we don't realise what a fabulous city we live in and how lucky we are. "Originally the two books were one. However, once I got over 150,000 words it became clear that two books was going to be a better idea. The Last Vikings was published in March 2008. The launch event was in Borders in York. The book immediately sold well. I had to re-consider the original plan to launch the second book (Sigurd) the following March when I received countless letters from children (and adults!) demanding to know what happened next. The Return of Sigurd the Dragon Slayer was therefore launched in October 2008, this time in WH Smiths in York. "I have an outline for a third book but have not yet written it. Hopefully it won't take me another eight years if I do decide to write it!" "The York Viking Walk is something I have been interested in starting for a while. My aim is to bring Viking York back to life - to allow my guests to walk in the Vikings' footsteps - where they lived, worked and where they fought."
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