About the author
Liz Lowson started writing at a very young age. By seventeen she’d finished her very first book, about two rag dolls who escaped from a dustbin. The world wasn’t really interested in dolls at the time, so her next idea for a story was about a bear. Her book, The Beastliest Bear started in 1992, when Liz met a teddy bear in a shop who scowled at her through his fur!
Some years after that she met her late husband, Bob and together they developed the idea for a book about different types of teddy bears. Over the years this idea grew and grew until it became Are Rabbits Bears and Are Rabbits Bears, The Companion Guide, which is a planned series of three books.
The Bear Dimension was something that ‘happened’ while Liz was busy writing about rabbits, bears, and Beastly Bears. She had always wondered where bears went to when they weren’t living here anymore, and over the course of her writing, she discovered exactly where that was.
The Bear Dimension is huge. It has seven planets with staircases of folded space in between, and every time Liz looks at it, she finds something more. That is the message she would like her stories to bring to the world: “There is always more.”
Bears love to explore — not just their own magical realm, but other worlds as well. They are keen to experience as much as possible, and they don’t have to stay in one shape, personality type or lifestyle, forever. They know they can always expand and grow into something more, depending on how they feel.
Liz thinks the Bear Dimension has a lot to offer people in terms of seeing more of the magic present in everyday life. Bears are endlessly curious, endlessly creative, endlessly open to more. Shouldn’t people be more like bears? What do you think?
About the Illustrator
Daniel Saunders is a graphic novelist and illustrator living in Norfolk, UK. He started drawing from the moment he could hold a pencil. From an early age Daniel enjoyed developing humorous hand-drawn comics with weird and wonderful characters.
When he met Liz in 2016, he was introduced to the world of bears, which he fitted into perfectly. After he had learned the names and habits of all twenty-eight teddy bears, he discovered he had a wonderful ability to bring them to life on the page. And so, a perfect partnership was born.
Liz writes the stories and Daniel brings them to life. Some bears are convinced that their dimension was actually drawn into being by the Great Artist, who sat at an easel and sketched an outline, then filled it in with details, colours and textures. The final stroke was to breathe magic into it until it became real. Daniel’s gift works in much the same way.
But Daniel doesn’t spend all of his time in the Bear Dimension! He spends the rest of his time working on a project very dear to his heart – a comic series called Furber and The Mystic Woods. These short, illustrated stories explore themes around compassion, mindfulness, and connection with nature. They are inspired by many mindful walks through local woodland, the magic of the world, and the wisdom of trees.
The series blends humour and soft fantasy to create stories that comfort, uplift, and remind readers of all ages that even the smallest spark can brighten the darkest path.
Mooniverse Books
In 2020, Daniel and Liz founded Mooniverse Books to bring the Bear Dimension books, together with Daniel’s standalone graphic novels, and other comics. The name ‘Mooniverse’ is a small tribute to Liz and Dan’s cat named ‘Moo’ who brought them so much joy during his lifetime that they wanted to share that energy with the world.
When Liz and Daniel started Mooniverse books, they wanted their stories to spread a message of peace and unity while encouraging people to treat one another and all living things with love and respect. This is still their aim, but now their hopes and dreams for humanity have grown even bigger and are constantly expanding! This is something that the Bear Dimension understands very well: “There’s always more!”
