Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I am a retired airline pilot with quite a varied flying background, including work in Africa for a flying doctor service, and Malaysia for the oil industry. Now I just fly little Cessna airplanes as a part-time flying instructor, and an Aeronca Chief, which I part own, strictly for fun. I live in Devon, England, in a little market town on the edge of Dartmoor National Park and not very far from the sea.
I am married with three grown up children and three grandchildren. When not flying or writing I enjoy long walks on the moor or along the North Cornwall coast, reading, television, the theatre and the cinema. Mostly our holidays are walking holidays. In recent years we have hiked in India, Ethiopia, Gran Canaria and the United States.
I have only written one book, though I have another, well advanced, that I hope will be ready for publication by about July, 2016. Once that is out I have some pretty detailed plots in my head for at least four others, so when the time comes I shall have to decide which to concentrate on next.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
The book is called Marshall’s Family. I got the idea for it a long time ago, and from time to time I scribbled notes, not so much on the plot, but on particular scenes that had somehow built up in my mind. Originally it was going to be set in a Europe being threatened by invasion from Russia, however, the end of the Cold War rendered that idea obsolete, so I switched the action to Africa. As soon as I did so I realized that it really was a far better setting. I was able to use some of my own experience to lend authenticity to the tale. In fact, in the first chapter the description of the night flight through lines of thunderstorms, and the rant of the homicidal soldier, overheard by Marshall, are both lifted directly from my memory. I think, had I gone with my original location, it would have been a very different book, and probably not so easy to write, but because I changed the background to Africa, the building blocks of the plot came to me relatively easily.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Not really, except that I write at a little circular, marble-topped table that once graced a Chinese coffee shop in Sarawak.
What authors, or books have influenced you?
Graham Greene. He reminds me of one of those Japanese artists who, after just a few strokes with a brush dipped in black ink, can produce a perfectly expressive representation of a bird or a flower or a mountain scene. His characters are so simply realized and yet so vivid. He dissects and lays bare their motives with great precision.
Antoine de Saint Exupery, for his wonderful prose. If Graham Greene paints in black and white, Saint Ex is all colour.
Ernest K Gann, for his descriptions of a pilot’s life, in the best flying book ever written, Fate is the Hunter. He outlines an exciting, dangerous aviation world, largely gone now, which, when I started out, I just managed to catch in its final years. When I read that book it is not just words, I can feel and hear and smell it all, and relate some of it to my own early experience.
Edward Abbey, for his humour, in most anarchic tale I have ever read, The Monkey Wrench Gang. It is a story with fabulous characters and outrageous situations, set in a real-life landscape. Funny and unforgettable, it will lift your spirits.
What are you working on now?
I am about two-thirds through the first draft of a story about love and war, in which a bizarre coincidence causes an American boy to profoundly affect the life of a German girl, he once knew, without either of them realizing it at the time. The novel contains scenes from the First and Second World Wars and the Korean conflict.
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
As I have only just started out as an author, it’s difficult to say which is best, but I have had great success using someone who helps self-published authors publish and promote their Kindle eBooks. She’s been helping me use social media, and prepare for my upcoming free promotion on Amazon.
Do you have any advice for new authors?
Stop prevaricating, sit down and start writing. Build on what you know. Don’t necessarily have a complete plot, but do have a beginning and some idea of an end.
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
“Do it. Do it now, before you get too old.” From the book/film Valdez Is Coming.
What are you reading now?
I have just started reading, The Corrections, by Jonathan Franzen. I cannot say much about it, because I am only on page 17, except – so far, so good.
I am one of those people whose rate of book buying exceeds their rate of book reading, though I read a lot. As a result I have a big backlog of books to read. The Corrections has just come off the top of that pile.
The last book I read was, Comanche Empire, by Pekka Hamalainen. It is basically a history of the Comanche Nation, and how it ran rings around the early Spanish/Mexican/American invaders for many years. It was only brought down in the end by sustained attacks on its economic resources.
What’s next for you as a writer?
My next novel I suppose, and I should quite like to start a blog. If I do I’m afraid it will probably be quite serious, an old man’s rant at the injustices of the world.
If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
Fate is the Hunter, by Ernest K Gann
Wind Sand and Stars, by Antoine de Saint Exupery
(Here I am going to cheat! ) Heaven’s Command/Pax Britannica/Farewell the Trumpets, by Jan Morris – bound in a single volume.
The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, by himself
Author Websites and Profiles
Anson Welsh Website
Anson Welsh Amazon Profile
Anson Welsh’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account
Great interview, Anson sounds like a very genuine person and I am looking forward to reading his book.