 ELECTROTAUR
& SLASHERMITE
HOW WAS THIS ALLOWED TO HAPPEN?
Electrotaur and Slashermite are just two of scores
of mad monsters drawn by my sons, Jacob and Alex (6
and 10 at the time, but still drawing them at 9 and
13!).
These gloriously over the top creatures were stuck
all over the walls around the house, and gave us endless
entertainment. Their names usually end in ‘taur’
or ‘mite’. They are all Taurs but the Mites
are smaller Taurs. They have wonderful names - Lavataur,
Aquataur, GrippaKillaTaur, Spikermite, Terrotaur, Shockermite,
Whackomite, Mechanitaur, Blazitaur, Tundrataur, Ninjataur,
Slamotaur, Serpentaur… I could go on.
One day, just for fun, I started to write a story about
what would happen if by some accident a couple of them
sprung into life.
 Jack
and Lewis are actually Jacob and Alex, true to their
real characters. I wrote a chapter at a time which I
then read to them at bedtime. There is nothing quite
like your own offspring gurgling with laughter and calling
for more to keep you writing. It was purely for fun
and to make me and their dad, Simon, laugh too, during
bedtime reading.
It has a bit of a poke (in an affectionate way) at
the ludicrously over the top cartoon characters that
kids watch on TV. The kind of show which must always,
without fail, feature the line ‘Now I’m
ready to meet my DESTINY! OK, Shardotaur… time
to show me what you’ve GOTTT!’ I think it’s
a requirement of the contract.
 Anyway,
I love to take the Mickey out of this kind of thing,
as you may notice (The Flickering Fork Of Fate?!) and
my sons have always taken it well and joined in. Their
monsters can indeed be terrifying… but they also
have panic attacks and worry about unfashionable trousers.
They can kill… but still crave approval over their
gardening skills.
So we just enjoyed our story each evening and I later
showed it to my agent, mostly for her own amusement,
but she loved it and swiftly got it taken on by Scholastic.
Jacob and Alex continue to be trusted advisors on the
series, which we all hope will run and run…
Ali Sparkes, August 2007
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