We’re funny about foxes. Some people think they’re beautiful, while others think they’re pests and no better than vermin.

I think the main problem humans have with foxes is that they’re just a little bit too much like us. Think about it… Like us, they are hunters and scavengers – they’re opportunists, grabbing what they can to help them survive. Like us, they live in towns and cities just as successfully as the countryside. Like us, they adapt, they work with whatever they’ve got – they’re never beaten. OK, fair enough, unlike us they tend to get sarcoptic mange and have a liking for live spiders as a snack – but we get the odd skin complaint too, and what about lobsters, eh? Eh? Stick with me here… Anyway, when I think about how Finding The Fox started (and with it the whole Shapeshifter series) it occurs to me that this uneasy, love-hate kind of relationship we have with the fox is a bit like some of the relationships Dax Jones has with the important people in his life, from Gina and Alice and his distant dad, away on the oil rigs, to Gideon and Lisa and Mia and, of course, the unpredictable Owen Hind. Mistrust, but a longing for belonging are a lot of what Finding The Fox is about - along with shapeshifting, telekinesis, glamour and sinister forces, of course. The fox is a loner, but a boy (or a girl) normally wants to belong. Dax and Gideon and Lisa and Mia don’t all decide to be a gang, but sort of end up that way naturally, because of the kind of people they are. They’re all very different, but have things in common which connect them. Who would you be, if you joined Cola Club? Dax, Gideon, Mia or Lisa..? Or maybe Spook? Look, I’m just asking!