Unlocking the World of Quicksmiths: An Interview with Loris Owen

The Eartha Quicksmith series has quickly become a favourite here at Stoomio, blending science, mystery, and heart into a whirlwind adventure that keeps readers guessing at every turn (and trust me, there are a lot of turns!). From the brain-bending puzzles in The Ten Riddles of Eartha Quicksmith to the expanding universe of The Myriad Mysteries of Eartha Quicksmith, author Loris Owen has built a world crammed with imagination, curiosity, and the kind of gadgets you wish you could sneak into your school bag.

I got the chance to chat with Loris about the inspiration behind Quicksmiths, the joys (and challenges) of writing for young readers, and what mysteries might still be hiding in Eartha’s world. Buckle up, Stoom Squad – this one’s a ride…

👉 If you’re new to the series, check out my review of The Ten Riddles of Eartha Quicksmith to see why it’s such a standout start to Kip’s adventure.

First off, tell us a little about yourself and why readers should check out your work

In my books you will find: fantastical pets, magical science, real riddles, mad professors, impossible
inventions and rollercoaster journeys into hidden worlds.

I’m an English writer with a sprinkle of Welsh (Owen was my grandmother’s maiden name). I was
brought up in Zimbabwe and lived for twelve years in the Middle East. I can usually be found behind
a mountain of Post-it notes or walking along the canals near my house, chatting to ducks. If I can’t be
found, I’ve probably disappeared into a particularly good puzzle.

What’s your local bookshop, and how can people find it?

When I lived in Kent, my local bookshops were Waterstones Rose Lane, Sevenoaks Bookshop and
Moon Lane. We used to have a beautiful, friendly bookshop called The Book Den, which very sadly
closed down after COVID.

Now we’ve moved to the Midlands, we have a wonderful local place called Quinns and another
reading treasury a little further away called Kibworth Books. We’re also lucky to have a few lovely
Waterstones nearby in Kettering, Leicester and Market Harborough – lots of booklovers round here.
I’m always at home in a house of books and wish Eartha would create an invention that would take
me to any place in my thoughts – that way every bookshop could be my local bookshop!

Tell us about the Eartha Quicksmith series, what inspired you to write it, and how have Kip and co evolved through The Ten Riddles, The Myriad Mysteries, and the soon-to-be-released The Cyber Ciphers?

My stepsons were not big readers but they loved science and were very curious. I had always written
literary fiction and poetry but I decided to try and write something for their age group that might
encourage them to read more.

I had a very clear idea of how Kip’s story would end when I started writing Ten Riddles, but there
wasn’t enough space in the books to fit everything in. The adventure always revolved around Eartha
and the Futurescope and originally explored more worlds but it gradually evolved to fit the shape of
a three-book dynamic. The ending of Cyber Ciphers was something that only came to me as that
final book was coming together.

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Speaking of The Cyber Ciphers of Eartha Quicksmith… Can you give us a cheeky peek behind the curtain? No spoilers, of course!

Of course, here’s a little extract from the book.

With each step, the soft, yellow circles of their Candlelight claimed back more from the darkness,
revealing glimpse by glimpse a black stone basement. At the very centre of the basement was a
pedestal about four feet high. Resting on the pedestal was a glass bottle with a thick cork jammed in
its neck. And in the bottle was a ship.

This ship-in-a-bottle was unlike the ones Kip had seen before, once on the internet and once in a
village museum. It was a fat cigar of wood polished so thoroughly it almost seemed to give off its
own hazy light. Each side had two large portholes, and a transparent dome hunkered on top like a
crystal ball waiting for a fortune teller.

‘Is this the ship Eartha was talking about?’ Kip wondered.
Albert turned to the others, eyes shining in the Candlelight.
‘I don’t think it’s a sailing ship,’ he said.
‘Where’s my bottle-breaking hammer?’ said Leela.
Timmi dived between Leela and the bottle. ‘Woah there, Breaky Smashknuckles!’
‘I’m joking,’ huffed Leela. ‘Obviously I’m not going to smash it.’ She crossed her arms. ‘Albert is.’
Albert looked up from a closer inspection of the bottle.
‘A,’ he said, ‘no. And B, it’s probably indestructibubble, knowing Eartha.’
‘Looks like ordinary glass to me,’ said Leela. ‘The ship though…’
‘Agreed,’ said Timmi. ‘I’m sure that’s salamander.’
Kip looked at the substance the ship was made of, ingrained with swirls the colours of autumn leaves.
‘That’s not wood then?’ he asked. ‘Salamander’s a Strange Element?’
Timmi nodded. ‘It doesn’t get hot or cold and doesn’t break under pressure. They use it to make
astrodrones. And cruisers.’
‘So, what have we got to work with?’ Leela stood back and observed the pedestal. ‘No instructions.’
‘No markings on the ship,’ said Albert. ‘The cork is properly wedged in there.’
‘Maybe we just need a corkscrew?’ said Timmi.
‘Eartha definitely wouldn’t leave a spaceship lying around that just anyone could get into,’ said
Albert. ‘I mean it would be embarrassing for the whole planet if all the spiders needed was a
corkscrew to get interstellar travel capability.’
‘You don’t know it’s a spaceship,’ said Leela.
Albert gave her a “you-don’t-know-what-I-don’t-know” look. He tried to pick up the bottle. When it
didn’t budge, he heaved with all his strength and his free arm flailed comically as the ship stayed
firmly in place.
‘There’s some kind of invisible sticking force.’
‘You mean glue?’ said Timmi.
‘Hmmph,’ Albert replied.
Kip placed his hand on the glass and drummed his fingers lightly. ‘We’re missing something.’
‘A cork-fork,’ said Leela.
‘Fork-get about that,’ said Albert. ‘What we need are bottle-eating eat-o-bots.’
Timmi beamed, reading Kip’s mind. ‘We’re missing something obvious…’
Kip beamed back. ‘…another riddle.’

Your books celebrate curiosity as a superpower. Can you share a moment from your own life when curiosity led you somewhere unexpected?

I was scuba diving once in a place called the Musandam off the coast of Oman – one of the wildest
and most beautiful marine habitats in the world. I fell behind the rest of the divers and was hovering
vertically in the water watching, at about eye-level, a large turtle sleeping on top of a steep coral
mound. The turtle woke up and, in a magical drawn-out moment (I’m not sure who reached out
first), I realised my hand was holding the turtle’s flipper. We hovered together for another very long
moment, looking in each other’s eyes before the other divers crowded around and the turtle
gracefully swam away.

Kip’s emotional journey (grief, self-doubt) grounds the fantastical plot with sincerity. How did you balance the grief-driven arc with the high-octane riddles and inventions?

Practice. As I wrote through the three books, a cadence developed. My instinct got more refined
with each edit (and there were many edits) – when to switch from the fantastical to something more
tangible and vice versa. I also got a feel for when to break up an intense scene with humour and
when we needed to hear a simple, small thought from Kip or see a child-like kindness.

The riddles in your stories aren’t just puzzles, they’re emotional turning points. Did you write toward those emotional beats first and then layer in the science, or the other way around?

In a sense it was very much building the plane as I flew it, as everything has to dovetail so neatly and
it’s not an easy feat to structure in riddles that make sense within the bigger picture. So, the riddles
were tailor-made to fit the plot, and often they come at a point where I needed to shift direction. It
was an enormous help that Eartha had seen glimpses of the children’s adventures in her
Futurescope, so the riddles left for them are often there to help them overcome a challenge or find
new strength and skills. Although they figure plenty out by themselves too, of course.

Your books tackle grief, friendship, and belonging alongside all the wild science and adventure. Which of these themes is closest to your heart, and why?

Belonging is the theme closest to my heart. Sometimes we come to a place in our lives where we
feel we belong, where we’ve always belonged. And sometimes we have the same feeling when we
come to a person, who has always been waiting for us. Those are very special moments.

Wormholes, plasma slugs, incredibly imaginative gadgets. Science drives the wonder in your books. Is there a real-world technological concept you wanted to include but didn’t, simply because you found it too wild, even for Quicksmiths?

Nothing is too wild for Quicksmiths!

However, keeping the references to science very brief and accessible for a middle grade audience is
something I worked really hard at, especially when so many other things are going on in the story.
All the ideas floating around are just a small percentage of what’s swirling in my head.
Kernels of real science can sometimes be glimpsed in the books – from waveforms of energy to the
phosphenes we see when we close our eyes, and from supercharged plasma to multiverse theory.
Sometimes tropes are unavoidable because readers need things they can recognise in order to
support the leap to newer and more original ideas.

There are many real-science concepts I would still like to write about, perhaps in a new book or for
another trilogy in the same world.

Speaking of inventiveness… is there a Quicksmiths gadget you’ve dreamed up, whether from the books or one that never made the cut, that you secretly wish existed in real life? And which invention from the series would you keep for yourself if you could?

When I ask kids at schools what invention they would like, they usually say Skimmi (because who
doesn’t want a thought-powered hoverdisc?) or Human Remote (because everyone knows at least
one person they want to pause).

For me, I wish Incognita existed in real life. She’d be an excellent best friend. I would keep an Easy
Breezy weather drone for myself – sunshine on command!

In the unlikely event you need to defend your lands from an evil race of extremely dumb and vicious Blarknarks, which Eartha Quicksmith character would you recruit, and what invention would they bring to the fight?

I would want Eartha herself by my side. Nothing is ever too complex or difficult for her to overcome.
Having lived the life she’s lived, I feel there isn’t anything she isn’t capable of doing. Eartha’s got all
the best inventions too. I expect she could rustle up a Blarknark Expunger with a few elastic bands,
some pencil shavings, a packet of marshmallows and an electric toothbrush.

Tell us about a children’s or YA book you love but think deserves way more attention. Something you think readers absolutely should check out.

There are two highly imaginative and original YA books that almost seem to have receded into the
shadows – The Mount by Carol Emshwiller and Tooth and Claw by Jo Walton. Both are for 12+
readers. You must stop at nothing to get copies!!

Before you go, can you give us a little teaser about what you’re working on next?

I’m working on a MG laugh-out-loud sci-fi but it’s top secret so I can’t say much. I have plans for
another MG riddle-based book, but this time set in a land of magic rather than science. I’d love to
make time to edit my short stories for adults, and I’m also working on a screenplay for adults which
is best described as Dark meets Lost meets Severance.

Not finally, but most importantly… What’s your favourite biscuit?

Timtams.

Finally, please share the best places for readers to find you online and grab all things Eartha Quicksmith.

The books can be bought from Firefly Press, your favourite indie bookshop, Waterstones and
Amazon.

You can read the first chapter here

Come and say hello at quicksmiths.com for free activities and games – I try and add new riddles
when I can. Any messages sent via the site come directly to me or you can find me online @writingloris.

One day, I may get around to opening the door to a little online shop. At the moment,
you can buy Pinkies on eBay.

✨ If you’re an author and would like to do a Q&A with Stoomio, I’d love to hear from you. Just drop me a message!