The Two Steves are British collaborative writers of children's books Steve Barlow (real name Steven Lowe) and Steve Skidmore (born 7 December 1960). They have written more than 70 books together. Their books are published as by Steve Barlow and Steve Skidmore except two Dragonriders of Bresal novels (2007 and 2008) as by Salamanda Drake.

Background

Skidmore wrote the text for at least two non-fiction picture books published in 1990. The Two Steves began collaborating in 1987 after meeting while working at

Fairham Comprehensive School Fairham is an under construction suburb in the borough of Rushcliffe in Nottinghamshire. It is located directly to the south of Clifton and roughly south-west of Nottingham's city centre and is set to be approximately in area. History The ...

Nottingham Nottingham ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located south-east of Sheffield and nor ...

, and have produced a large body of work together. They operate on a

freelance ''Freelance'' (sometimes spelled ''free-lance'' or ''free lance''), ''freelancer'', or ''freelance worker'', are terms commonly used for a person who is self-employed and not necessarily committed to a particular employer long-term. Freelance w ...

basis, and have produced work for several publishers including Scholastic (

Outernet Othernet Inc is a broadcast data company. Othernet sells a portable satellite data receiver that combines an amplifier, radio, and CPU in a single unit. Othernet's stated goal is to make news, information, and education accessible to everyone ...

series), and Collins (The Dark Forest series). Their first published work was a book of three short plays, "Paper Tigers" (1991) in the Oxford Playscripts series, while their first novel was "I fell in Love with a Leather Jacket" (1993). They have also written a large body of work for educational publishers, and have been series editors for

Impact Impact may refer to: * Impact (mechanics), a large force or mechanical shock over a short period of time * Impact, Texas, a town in Taylor County, Texas, US Science and technology * Impact crater, a meteor crater caused by an impact event * Imp ...

and High Impact (materials for struggling readers) for Heinemann, as well as series editors for Heinemann Plays and Oxford Playscripts. They have also written parody books such as "Star Bores" (2000), to coincide with the releases of popular and anticipated films. However, the bulk of their work still remains in the field of children's and

teenage Adolescence () is a transitional stage of human physical and psychological development that generally occurs during the period from puberty to adulthood (typically corresponding to the age of majority). Adolescence is usually associated with ...

literature. A number of their books have been

translated Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. The English language draws a terminological distinction (which does not exist in every language) between ''transla ...

into other languages, and The Mad Myths, Vernon Bright, The Dark Forest and Erik Bloodaxe books have been released as

spoken word Spoken word is an oral poetic performance art that is based mainly on the poem as well as the performer's aesthetic qualities. It is a 20th-century continuation of an oral tradition, ancient oral artistic tradition that focuses on the aesthetic ...

tapes. They have recently made some of their older books available on the

iPhone The iPhone is a line of smartphones developed and marketed by Apple that run iOS, the company's own mobile operating system. The first-generation iPhone was announced by then–Apple CEO and co-founder Steve Jobs on January 9, 2007, at ...

and

iPod The iPod is a series of portable media players and multi-purpose mobile devices that were designed and marketed by Apple Inc. from 2001 to 2022. The iPod Classic#1st generation, first version was released on November 10, 2001, about mon ...

touch via Sleepydog. The 2 Steves are currently working on new books for various publishers, including Usborne and

Hachette Hachette may refer to: * Hachette (surname) * Hachette Livre, a French publisher, the imprint of Lagardère Publishing ** Hachette Book Group, the American subsidiary ** Hachette Distribution Services, the distribution arm See also * Hachette Fil ...

School visits

As former teachers, the Two Steves have toured schools both around Britain, and in other countries including Brazil, China, Qatar, Venezuela,

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, and

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. They have also been involved with the library services in Britain, and events such as the Northern Children's Book Festivals in 2006 and 2009.

Selected works

Early publications

Skidmore: * ''Poison! Beware!'', illustrated by Thompson Yardley (Cassell's, 1990; US: Millbrook Press, 1991), * ''What a Load of Rubbish!'', illus. Yardley (Cassell's, 1990); US: ''What a Load of Trash!'' (Millbrook, 1991), Barlow and Skidmore: * ''Paper Tiger'' (

Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...

, 1991) – "three original, self-contained plays following the adventures of a gang of newspaper boys and girls as they confront such issues as racism, equality and the law." * ''One (plus one): Monologues and duologues for performance'' (Hodder & Stoughton, 1991),

Books for young adults

* ''I Fell in Love With a Leather Jacket'' (1993) * ''In Love With an Urban Gorilla'' (1995) * ''Dream On'' (1998)

Juvenile fiction series

;Mad Myths A series of fantasy adventure books focusing on

mythological Myth is a genre of folklore consisting primarily of narratives that play a fundamental role in a society. For scholars, this is very different from the vernacular usage of the term "myth" that refers to a belief that is not true. Instead, the ...

characters transplanted to the modern age, published by

Puffin Puffins are any of three species of small alcids (auks) in the bird genus ''Fratercula''. These are pelagic seabirds that feed primarily by diving in the water. They breed in large colonies on coastal cliffs or offshore islands, nesting in crev ...

, reissued by Barn Owl, and later available on

and

touch. Titles: ''Stone Me!'' (1995), ''Mind the Door!'' (1996), ''A Touch of Wind!'' (1998), ''Must Fly!'' (1998), ''Don't Look Back'' (2006). The first novel was based on a short play of the same name published in 1993. ;Lost Diaries A series of short books featuring on the supposed diaries of historical or semi-historical characters. Titles: ''The Lost Diary of Erik Bloodaxe, Viking Warrior'' (Collins, 1997), ''The Lost Diary of Henry VIII's Executioner'' (1997), ''The Lost Diary of Shakespeare’s Ghostwriter'' (1999), ''The Lost Diary of Julius Caesar's Slave'' (1997), ''The Lost Diary of Hercules' Personal Trainer'' (1998), ''The Lost Diary of Robin Hood's Money Man'' (1999). Late in 1999 Collins published ''The Lost Diary Boxed Set'' comprising three of these Lost Diaries (Bloodaxe, Shakespeare, Caesar) with ''The Lost Diary of Tutankhamun's Mummy'' by Clive Dickinson. ; Star Bores * ''Star Bores'' (1999), or ''Star Bores: May the Farce be With You!: The Original Parody'' * ''Star Bores: the Prequel'' (2004), or ''Star Bores: May the Farce be With You!: The Parody Prequel'' ''Episode I: The Panting Menace'', ''Episode II: The Attack of the Clowns'', ''Episode III: The Revenge of the Hith'', ''Episode IV: A New Hype'' ;Vernon Bright A series of books about a boy genius and his adventures, published by Puffin and later made available on the iPhone and iPod. Titles:''Vernon Bright and the Magnetic Banana'' (2000), ''Vernon Bright and Frankenstein's Hamster'' (2000), ''Vernon Bright and The Faster-Than-Light Show'' (2001), ''Vernon Bright and the End of the World'' (2004). ;Tales of the Dark Forest A fantasy series set in the eponymous Dark Forest. Titles: '' Goodknyght!'' (2001), '' Whizzard!'' (2002), ''Trollogy!'' (2003), ''Knyghtmare!'' (2004), "Boggartsh!" (2005). ;Outernet A web/book crossover project about a group of friends defending the universe from the FOES. Titles: ''Friend or Foe?'' (2002), ''Control'' (2002), ''Odyssey'' (2003), ''Time Out'' (2003), ''The Hunt'' (2003), ''The Weaver'' (2003). ;Dragonriders of Bresal A series for girls, written under the pen name "Salamanda Drake", centring on the equestrian-style adventures of a young girl and the dragons raised in her father's stables. Titles: '' Dragonsdale'' (2007), ''Riding the Storm'' (2008), ''Snowfall and dragonfire'' (2018), ''Flying for gold'' (2018). ;Luke Challenger Juvenile science fiction series from Usborne Publishing. Titles in the series: ''Return to the Lost World'' (2010), ''Return to 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea'' (2011), ''Return to King Solomon's Mines'' (2012)."Luke Challenger – Series Bibliography"
ISFDB. Retrieved 2015-03-09. (Cf.

Professor Challenger George Edward Challenger is a fictional character in a series of fantasy and science fiction stories by Arthur Conan Doyle, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Unlike Doyle's self-controlled, analytical character, Sherlock Holmes, Professor Challenger is an ...

, the 1912 Doyle classic, the 1870 Verne classic, the 1885 Haggard classic.) ;IHorror A series of Choose Your Own Adventure horror books depicting the life of a fictional character known only as the "Hunter" who protects the world from undead supernatural creatures. Titles in the series: ''Vampire Hunter'', ''Zombie Hunter'', ''Werewolf Hunter'', ''Demon Hunter''.

References

External links

Both

*
Authors profile
at FantasticFiction.co.uk
The Two Steves
at Sleepydog.net eBooks * (joint pseudonym)
Book Reviews
at Cool-Reads.co.uk

Barlow

* * *

Skidmore