When gaming proved unprofitable he began to work seriously on a novel, The Chosen which was published in (1999). This forms the first part of a trilogy The Stone Dance of the Chameleon. The second volume The Standing Dead was published in 2002. The third volume was highly anticipated, but missed the publication deadline. The delay was partly caused by the author's house in Edinburgh being severely damaged by fire. In a recent update on the author's website, however, he states that the third book has been completed, with publication planned for March 2009. The trilogy concerns the harrowing experiences of the young and inexperienced heir to a ruling dynasty who is suddenly taken from his protected childhood and thrust into a cruel society where he must fight for his family honour, his position and his life.

Pinto was interviewed about the books and stated that he wrote a first draft of the story during the long holiday while at university in 1982, and had written expanded drafts of the parts which became the second and third books while employed writing computer games. His starting point for writing was the experience gained designing games, which had also required the development of a detailed fantasy world. Considerable time was spent researching and developing background detail for all three books, extending to constructing models of the locations within them. The aim was to remove any possible plot difficulties which might appear in the last book before committing to the detail published in the first. The series has taken 10 years of work to complete.

Pinto reported that he has ideas for perhaps another 20 different books, but would not want to spend so much time on any one project again. He has expressed an interest in writing historical novels, but chose the fantasy format initially because of the freedom to create his own world without having to be historically accurate. An initial conceptual idea was that the story was set in late Cretaceous period Antarctica, with the wildlife, day and year length chosen to match information about this period.

Pinto has said that the books include his most deeply held political beliefs. He also felt that despite possible commercial difficulties, his first novel should include gay characters as a reflection of his own life experiences. He acknowledged that his ideas on writing and creating fantasy worlds had been influenced by the works of Tolkien and the 'Dune' novels of Frank Herbert.

The Stone Dance of the Chameleon series

• The Chosen (1999)
• The Standing Dead (2001)
• The Third God (2009)