The Dark Lord of Derkholm

A hilarious adventure about a fantasy world in danger of destruction from that most vile of threats… tourism .Winner of the Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Children’s Literature in 1999.

A humorous fantasy from Diana Wynne Jones. In a world next door to ours, the tourist industry is devastating the population by its desire to experience all the fantasy clichés - Dark Lords, impoverished villages, dragons etc.

The Head of the University resolves to shut the tours down; the only problem being the ruthless tour-master - and his all-powerful demons. To save them all, the incompetent wizard Derk is appointed as Dark Lord in the hope that he will ruin the tours, and sure enough proceeds to fail at everything due to his general uselessness. But can failing at everything lead to a win this time?

• Diana Wynne Jones is a bestseller. She’s sold nearly 500,000 copies of her books worth over £2.5 million (Nielsen Bookscan, 2013).

• Diana Wynne Jones is the Godmother of children’s fantasy fiction and has inspired contemporary heavy weights such as Neil Gaiman

• Diana Wynne Jones’ Chrestomanci series has a dedicated legion of fans and has now sold over 250,000 copies in the UK (Source: Bookscan TCM Chart)

• Also the author of HOWL’S MOVING CASTLE, now an Oscar-nominated animated movie by Hayao Miyazaki

• She has written over 40 books and has been translated into more than 20 languages.

• Fantastic – and funny – fantasy about a world that humans go to as ‘fantasy world’ tourists to experience all the fantasy clichés. Where would you go…?