Category: PR

Robert Dinsdale has been interviewed by Fantasy Hive, the vibrant UK site celebrating fantasy, science fiction and horror fiction. In her in-depth conversation with Robert, Nils Shukla goes behind the scenes of Once a Monster, exploring how this imaginative retelling of the Minotaur legend came to be and why Victorian London was the perfect setting for this story.

Set in London in 1861, Once a Monster follows ten-year-old Nell, a mudlark scraping a living from the Thames’s mudbanks, who discovers a strange and wounded man with the scars of myth woven into his flesh. As Nell nurses him back to health, the narrative blends gritty historical realism with a mythic reimagining of ancient legend.

In the interview, Robert reflects on his lifelong fascination with Greek myths, especially the Minotaur, and describes how Victorian London with its buried rivers and subterranean world became a rich backdrop for the novel. He also offers insight into his characters, including Nell and Benjamin Murdstone, and talks candidly about his approach to editing and the storytelling process.

Read the full interview on Fantasy Hive to discover more about the inspirations behind Once a Monster, Robert’s creative process and his hopes for what readers take away from the story.

Robert Dinsdale has been featured on The Book Trail’s Authors on Location series.

In this tour, Robert takes readers deep into the heart of 19th-century London, using the city’s lost rivers as both setting and inspiration. Through evocative prose, he revisits long-buried waterways like the River Fleet and others that once criss-crossed the capital – rivers that now flow unnoticed beneath the modern streets but once shaped its life, legends and stories.

Set in 1861, Once a Monster begins on the tidal mud flats of the Thames near Ratcliffe Highway, where a mudlark named Nell discovers a mysterious, scar-marked stranger whose story hints at mythic ties to the Minotaur. The city that unfolds around them is a labyrinth of Victorian streets, waterways and forgotten histories – a perfect match for the novel’s myth and atmospheric storytelling.

Read the full literary locations piece on The Book Trail. Learn how these hidden London rivers flow through both history and narrative and discover how Dinsdale’s own wanderings inspired the world of Once a Monster.