BEING on tour can be a lonely business – even if you’ve got one of the main roles in smash hit musical The Lion King.

Meilyr Siôn from Aberaeron spent three-and-a-half years in his role as Zazu the African Hornbill in the long-running touring version of the Disney-inspired West End hit.

In order to fill the time between performances across the UK and in Europe, actor and author Meilyr wrote his latest book for children, Cysgod y Darian, which has just been published by Gomer.

“I was in Switzerland with The Lion King for seven-and-a-half months. So whenever I wasn’t on stage, back at my digs, I would be writing,” said Meilyr.

“It kept me amused and it was something different to being on stage.

“It was only a very rough draft but it was definitely something I wanted to continue with and get published.”

The result is Cysgod y Darian, an adventure story about a boy, Ioan Arthur, who is thrown into a world of secret societies, fierce Vikings, supernatural powers, telepathy and time travel.

Meilyr called on his love of mythology as inspiration for the book.

“I’m a big fan of Celtic and Scandinavian mythology but I really love mythology from all over the world,” he said.

“You see the same themes recurring, for example, Jason and the Argonauts is similar to Culhwch and Olwen.”

He is also a big fan of fantasy and science fiction writing but feels there are very few with a Welsh element.

Read the full feature in this week’s south editions, on sale now