Gareth Owen has authored and/or ghosted 16 books on film, film studios and film personalities including four volumes of autobiography with Sir Roger Moore.

Andrew is an engineer who really enjoys his family life, his work and dreaming.

In his spare time Andrew likes to tinker in his workshop and play guitar.

Andrew’s family are avid readers and have really helped him to appreciate the magic of books.

Stacey Halls grew up in Rossendale, Lancashire, as the daughter of market traders. She has always been fascinated by the Pendle witches. She studied journalism at the University of Central Lancashire and moved to London aged 21.

She was media editor at the Bookseller and books editor at Stylist.co.uk, and has also written for Psychologies, the Independent and Fabulous magazine, where she now works as Deputy Chief Sub Editor. The Familiars is her first novel.

Mike Phillips was born in Guyana, came to Britain as a child and grew up in London. A journalist, broadcaster and university lecturer before becoming a full time writer, his series of crime fiction novels began with ‘Blood Rights’ (1989), adapted for BBC television, and his reputation as a historian was established with ‘Windrush: The Irresistible Rise of Multi-Racial Britain’ (1998). Mike writes for the Guardian, and works as Cross Cultural curator at Tate Britain.

Rebecca is an English illustrator living in Australia. She grew up in a creative, if slightly eccentric, family. Her days were spent roaming the English countryside collecting wild flowers and leaves, chasing butterflies and birds, and drawing tiny pictures of everything she could. After graduating from art school in Winchester, she moved to London where she worked as a textile designer.

She worked there for a few years, until her restlessness had her flying off to Australia in search of adventure. Now she has replaced the countryside with concrete, and lives slap bang in the middle of a big city.

But she is to be found most days in her studio, drinking endless cups of tea, staring out of the window at a bunch of imaginary critters, and trying to draw them.