ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Simon Victor
Simon is a British writer, artist, and director whose work bridges storytelling, visual art, and immersive experience. He has been a live director for the SXSW Film & Music Festival in Austin since 2008 and has written for television, with screenplays accepted & developed for television by the Sundance Labs Institute and Cartoon Network (Adult Swim).
In 2018, he completed a six-week residency at the Proyecto'Ace art institute in Buenos Aires, where he studied the writings of Jorge Luis Borges and developed an immersive installation inspired by Borges’ labyrinthine imagination.
His debut novel, Wizard of Madeira, reflects his enduring love for the island of Madeira and its ancient Laurisilva forests, blending history, myth, and magical realism into a narrative about time, memory, and the mysteries of nature.
Inspiration
The series of Wizard of Madeira novels and short stories, encapsulate a lifetime experience of literary study, wild adventure, spiritual exploration and a profound love for nature. Crafted for readers who crave historical fiction with magical atmosphere, profound symbolism, and philosophical depth, the books open a magical door to a version of Madeira shaped by rich folklore and ancient mythology.
The chronicles all highlight the relationship between humans and nature, often emphasizing themes of salvation, respect, reciprocity, and the consequences of greed or selfishness. Simon Victor invites readers into a fascinating realm where hidden paths whisper secrets, where forests carry ancestral memory through the mist, and where dreams and intuition reveal truths about grief, love, and fate that the reasoning mind cannot fully grasp.
As in the folklore of many ancient cultures, these stories illustrate the sacred divinity of plants, trees, birds, bees, animals, mountains and forests - reinforcing the importance of protecting our profound spiritual connection to the natural world.