Mat McCall

My name is Mat McCall, I’m an educationalist specialising in Adult Education, a History and Archaeology lecturer, award winning Steampunk artist and artificer, bulldog fancier, natural philosopher and Fortean.

I have always had an abiding passion for Science Fiction and Fantasy only equalled by my passion for Archaeology and History. I’m a big fan of HG Wells, Bradbury, Lovecraft,  Philip K. Dick, William Gibson, Robert Aspin’s “Thieves World,” and George Martin’s “Game of Thrones.”

I decided to write ‘The Dandelion Farmer’ after a prolonged hiatus in writing my dark fantasy series ‘The Goddess of Sorrows.’

I aimed to write a Steampunked Science Fiction novel that was more Science Fiction than Steampunk whimsy. I knew I wanted it to be set on Mars and I wanted it to draw on the literary elements of Verne and Wells, but also Bradbury’s Martian Chronicles, Burroughs’ John Carter adventures, and a little touch of Lovecraft. Also the Mars of the 19th C  scientific community, Flammarion, Schiaparelli and Lowell. This would give me the opportunity to build, not only an alternative history, but an entire new world.

I have always felt that modern Steampunk literature, if you can call it that, has always been “fluffy.” Playing to the audience with all the subtlety of a Carry On movie, nudge-nudge, wink-wink… and making virtually no contribution to Science Fiction as a genre. Nonetheless it is to the Godfathers (and Godmothers) of Science Fiction, the authors of the late 18th and 19th century that Steampunk owes its existence. I wanted to write something that I would be proud to see on a shelf next to those giants.

Edwin and Adam simply came fully formed out of my imagination, I am sometimes left feeling that I am merely exploring their world beside them.

The first book starts off almost Western Frontier adventure in flavour, but quickly evolves into something more akin to a Verne-like quest, especially as other darker forces come into play.

The Dandelion Farmer is an adventure over three books, “The Dandelion Farmer” being the first, with “The Hourglass Sea,”  being the second in the series.