I've now hung up my hat as a professional bat ecologist, passing the baton onto my amazing colleagues at David Dodds Associates, the company I set up nearly 20 years ago and which has grown to be one of the biggest ecology companies in the northern UK.
My time is now split between teaching people to fly at Borders Gliding Club, where I'm a qualified Flight Instructor, helping Rona at her amazing plant nursery and gardens south of Edinburgh, Quercus Garden Plants. The thing that takes up most of my time is still writing, but I've now moved from blogs and magazine articles to writing paranormal/urban fantasy novels.
My first novel, 'Touchpaper' tells how Drew McLeod suddenly finds himself hunted through the dark closes of Edinburgh by a shadowy and deadly creature, but is rescued by a bad-tempered daemon, finding himself subsumed into The Parallel Realm, a world of mythological and paranormal creatures who live, love and fight around us, hidden in plain sight. He must find out who is hunting him and why and develop powers to defend himself. He faces ever bigger dangers with the help of a cast of quirky and fascinating characters.
The sequel, 'Wyrm-galdr' continues the story as Drew's powers develop and a new threat faces the people of the Parallel Realm. Ever more odd and intriguing characters turn up as he works to defend the people around him and neutralise the threat they face.
So where do the bats come in? They play a small part in 'Touchpaper', but really come into their own in 'Wyrm-galdr'. It's been great fun to create roles for them in which they can be seen in a positive light.
I'm delighted to say that both books have been well-received and are selling well around the world and book 3, 'Ælf-fire' will be published later this year.
You can read more about the Parallel Realm on my author website DavidDoddsAuthor.com, where you can also sign up to receive a free ebook and sign up for my newsletter.
Both 'Touchpaper' and 'Wyrm-galdr' can be bought on Kindle or ebook, or in print form worldwide on Amazon or at Barnes and Noble, Kobo or any good bookshop.
