Guest Post: Parent Quest

Title: Parent Quest: The Search for the Twin Mystery
Author: Gabriel Ammah
Genres: Action, Adventure, Fantasy
Publication Date: December 26, 2015
Publisher: Chontama Publishing
Purchase Links: 

A tragic accident and lightning strike changes the lives of two best friends in a magical way.

After both of their parents go missing under mysterious circumstances, Neil and Cherron enlist two of their schoolmates on a journey to uncover the mystery - using social media, clue hunting and spying techniques - they uncover hidden secrets and conspiracy in the small English town of Ipswich.

Gabriel Ammah was born in London in 1975, the youngest of three brothers.  When Gabriel was five years old, his parents separated. His mother along with his siblings moved to South London where he would spend the best of his teenage and early adult life.

While raising a young family, working, and studying at East London, Gabriel learnt the structure and importance of narrative andit’s place in storytelling. With that he decided to embark on writing his first book. Some of the experiences the characters go through in the book were drawn from his own experiences growing up without his father. This, he says, was a learning curve and a realisation that life can continue even after a tragedy.

If anyone asked me ten years ago whether I would write a book, my answer would have been simple, ‘Never’.  I hated reading as a child and as a young adult; I read newspapers and magazines until I stumbled on novels from Jeffrey Archer, Richard Laymon and Dan Brown. I was intrigued by their style of writing and how they dove straight into the meat of the story without over explaining characters, landscape and environment.

I chose to write for young adults mainly because my children were growing up and so were their appetite for stronger and wider content. They were not babies anymore, so the Three Little Pigs style of storytelling was becoming obsolete. I wanted to create something that was believable and relatable to children their age, which meant more research- listening to how they spoke to each other as well as their friends. My children love Harry Potter, so it came as no surprise that I was going to write a fantasy adventure book that allowed the readers to create their own imagery of what the characters should look like. I always see things from the approach that every human being has an imagination and should be allowed to explore and create a fictitious world in the safe confinements of their mind. 

In this first installment of my debut book Parent Quest, I drew from my experiences as a young adult and the interactions that I had with friends, teachers and family members. I then thought of the likelihood of my children not knowing where I was and what resources they would use to try and find me. That coupled with mysterious powers, suspense and teen horseplay made writing this book fun.

Children go through so many new experiences growing up. So within this book, I touch on some of the complicated issues and dilemmas they could potentially find themselves in. Themes like bullying, arguing, loneliness and problem solving all make up what is an interesting read and I hope it reaches out to a multitude of young people.  

A friend asked me recently why I chose Ipswich as the main location of the book. My answer to that was simply, “I love the place.” It has so much history and some of the old architecture around the town reminded me of places I used to visit as a child. 

One of my hobbies is traveling, so in my future books, there will be elements of weird and interesting traveling experiences that make life adventurous.