An author who went to sword fighting classes to research her book visited Hampton School.

Susan EE, creator of the Angelfall series, spoke to the school’s third year boys on the publication day of her eagerly awaited second book, World After, and told them about her research.

She said: “It was fantastic. I signed up with the European Sword Fighting School and they gave me a sword similar to the one that features in my books to learn to fight with.

“There are lots of battles in my book and I wanted to make the scenes technically correct and authentic, and convey some of the emotion that people feel in a fight.”

The author’s first novel, Angelfall, was a post-apocalyptic adventure story starring 17-year-old heroine, Penryn, and her battle against angels taking over the world.

She said that by sharing her experience young writers would be encouraged and given the confidence to self-publish.

She said: “I started off on my own, just knowing that I wanted to write a book in the post-apocalyptic genre but with no website or any marketing presence at all.

“When I speak at schools it is clear that many young people are budding authors and I want them to know that anyone can give this a go and make it a success.”

The Hampton schoolboys were pleased to hear there would be at least one more book in the Angelfall series, and possibly even two more sequels.