Mark Thomas News & Events

October 2026

October 2026

October 2026

Four books — and Colin is back!

It’s been a busy few weeks. Following the release of Creep, Rattle, Cackle! at the end of September, my fourth children’s book has now arrived — Colin the Octopus in Graveyard of the Deep – A Fishy Halloween Tale: Ghosts, Vampires, Zombies & Other Real Sea Creatures.

This is Colin’s second adventure, and this time I’ve taken him somewhere rather different. Halloween has reached the reef, and after a challenge from Gash, Colin finds himself heading alone towards the mysterious Graveyard of the Deep.

As well as the story, I wanted children to discover that the ocean contains creatures every bit as strange as anything we might invent for Halloween. So alongside the ghosts, vampires and zombies are some remarkable real sea creatures, with facts about them included in the book.

It’s great to finally see Colin’s latest adventure out in the world — and particularly satisfying to see it become book number four.

School, libraries & reading groups

Schools, nurseries, libraries and reading groups are always welcome to get in touch about story-time sessions, author visits and classroom resources.

With Colin’s latest adventure exploring some wonderfully strange real sea creatures, there are even more opportunities to mix reading, imagination and learning.

Visit the Contact page to get in touch.

Something Witchy This Way Comes…

My fifth book is already written and waiting to be brought to life with illustrations!

The Witch is a darkly funny rhyming tale about a young girl called Carrie, a seemingly friendly old lady and a very important lesson about trusting strangers.

There are witches, spells, magic, plenty of scares — and a few surprises along the way.Well nothing planned or is there? Like i've already stated, "I love Halloween" and the possibilities are endless. So who can tell, you never know there might just be another creepy instalment waiting to step out from the shadows, to my pen and your imagination.

More Free Activities Added!

The free activities library is growing again! Alongside the Creep, Rattle, Cackle! Halloween activities, new Colin the Octopus activities inspired by Graveyard of the Deep are being added.

There’ll be more puzzles, games and fun things to discover, with some of the strange and wonderful real sea creatures from Colin’s latest adventure joining in too.

The idea for Colin the Over-Confident Octopus actually began as a very different story. Originally, the character was going to be called Colcon the Colour-Confused Octopus, and the book was intended to continue Noah and his Grandad’s adventures with strange and unusual animals with rather unusual abilities.

The original idea was that, unlike other octopuses that can change colour to help them blend into their surroundings, Colcon would always get his colours wrong. Instead of disappearing into a rock, coral or patch of seaweed, he might turn a completely unsuitable colour and make himself even easier to spot. It seemed like a fun idea at first, but the more I thought about it, the less sense it made. If an octopus was permanently that bad at hiding, the predators of the ocean would probably have found him long before there was a story to tell!

That led me to rethink the character. Rather than having an octopus that was simply unable to camouflage himself properly, I began developing the idea of an octopus whose normally excellent colour-changing ability became temporarily confused. Of course, if something had gone wrong, I also needed to work out why it had happened and how Colin would eventually recover. From there, the story gradually developed into the adventure that became Colin the Over-Confident Octopus.

As the idea grew, so did Colin’s personality. His remarkable ability to hide made him proud of what he could do, and that confidence slowly became over-confidence — eventually leading him to take on someone he really should have left alone. That gave the story not only its adventure, but also its message about the difference between believing in yourself and becoming a little too sure of yourself.

I also have my grandson Jacob to thank for helping the idea develop. He drew his own version of the octopus while we were working on the character, and his enthusiasm and imagination became part of the process that helped turn the original idea of Colcon into the Colin you see today.

The idea for Sneepoogull began in a very ordinary way, during a walk with my five-year-old granddaughter, Jasmine.

We spotted a seagull, and I jokingly told her to watch out in case it flew overhead. I then invented a silly creature called a “Sneegull”, a seagull that sneezed and pooed at the same time. The idea made Jasmine laugh, and that little moment was all it took to get my imagination going.

I started wondering: what if this wasn’t just an ordinary seagull? What if it was enormous, perhaps the size of a small car? And what would happen if something that big sneezed while it was flying high above you?

That was when the Sneegull began to develop into the Sneepoogull.

The idea grew into a story about a strange, oversized seabird with a sniffly nose, a poorly tummy and one particularly messy problem. From there came the warning rhyme and the phrases that became such an important part of the story:

“AHH... CHOO!”

followed, unfortunately, by...

“AHH... POO!”

The rhyme gave the story its rhythm and helped turn the original joke into an adventure. It also created the simple rule at the heart of the book: if you ever hear a Sneepoogull sneeze overhead, don’t look up — run!

What began as a silly comment on a windy walk with my granddaughter gradually grew into a complete story, a character called Reggie, and eventually my first children’s book. Sometimes a story really can begin with nothing more than a seagull, a laugh and a little bit of imagination.