Bendigo artist and writer Danny Willis has been troll-watching.
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His latest book details all the work he has uncovered about trolls that live in central Victoria.
The Great Bendigo Mystery is a fun, fantasy book about where trolls hideout in the Bendigo region and what we know about them.
Following two mysterious journals discovered in Rosalind Park, Willis’ book tells of thirty trolls have been found living around mines, bushland and reservoirs in central Victoria.
“I had to find places that were isolated like One Tree Hill or the bushland around Strathfieldsaye and Junortoun,” Willis said.
“Then I just made the characters up in my head. I go to the sketch book first, then scan them into a computer. The best bit of whole process is drawing them for first time.”
Willis began his career in 1980 by creating art for play-by-mail computer games before turning his skills to children’s books.
In 2006, his book Goblins: The Outer Realm sold 148,000 copies and was translated into 14 languages.
Since then he has published The Secret Book of Trolls and co-authored the World of Grymm series.
“When I did (Goblins) 10 years ago, I could see a future in that type of book, so I started putting a trolls one together,” Willis said.
“It took a couple years to put together and then I sat on it for a while because getting things published and promoted takes work and had a two-year-old at home, which made it hard to get things going.”
Willis said the book is a once-off print run and will never be reprinted meaning the Bendigo-based book is quite unique.
“It is a print run of 1000 copies, which is a lot. Most publishing houses only do a run of 500,” Willis said.
“It is self published. That’s hard because it’s your own money on the line. But I thought if I didn't do it now, it would never happen.”
The Great Bendigo Mystery is available to buy in Bendigo at Dymocks, Games World, Good vs Evil Comics and The Book Wolf in Maldon. It costs $25 with $1 from each sale donated to the Bendigo Health.