My website is at JohnArthurNichol.com

As a compulsive rhymer and belly-laugher, I write a lot of verse and it's generally ridiculous - in the smiliest way.

A few years ago I started writing stories (yes, in verse) about Sascha Martin, an eight-year-old who can invent ... anything, really. So he does, and he brings his inventions to school each week, for News.

His first three books were fully illustrated, in colour, but the stories keep getting longer, and more bickering and ambitious, so their format has to evolve and I'm not sure how they'll end up, exactly.

I'm reading the stories aloud for a podcast. It hasn't launched yet, but you can listen to three teaser episodes here. And they'll always be books. But this year my wonderful illustrator, Manuela Pentangelo, passed away. She was the one who really brought the stories to life, with her illustrations and her cover designs.

The last piece she did for me was the podcast artwork. It was a gift - a parting gift, had I only known - and it will stand proudly as the banner for Sascha Martin's Ripping News.