Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I am an Indie author and write fast-moving adventure stories for adults and children.
I live in two locations – a small market town in Britain called Romsey and a tiny rural farming town in south west France. I love to travel and experience life through different lenses – as a result many international locations feature in my books.
My partner is an ex interpol detective and has a stack of anecdotes that I love to weave into my stories. Whether it’s a steamy romance or suspense novel, a short story, or my middle-grade chapter books aimed at younger readers.
I have three series available across a range of outlets, incorporating 11 titles. The ‘Passion Patrol Series’ is my adult suspense, police thriller romance series with two books and a third due in 2017 – oh there’s a companion cookbook to the series as well! ‘Love in a Hopeless Place’ is a series of 5 gritty short stories and novellas, available individually or as a boxed set. ‘Once Upon a NOW’ is the name of my children’s modern illustrated fairy story series. There are three books in the collection ‘Alf The Workshop Dog,’ ‘Isabella’s Pink Bicycle’ and ‘Kool Kid Kruncha and the High Trapeze’.
I have also written a short story, ‘Champions,’ for a charity anthology called ‘Let’s Hear it For the Boys,’ in aid of the men’s health ‘Movember Foundation’
All my books are available in e-book and print and the short stories and children’s books are also out in audio book format (some read by me and some by my partner).
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My latest book is a novelette, ‘Champions,’ which I wrote specifically for the Movember Foundation anthology ‘Let’s Hear it For the Boys’.
The tag-line for the collection is ‘in praise of our men.’ Mine tells a story from the late 1950’s – the recent past – an era in which my own father grew up. The start of the baby-boomer teenage revolution. A time of breaking out from tradition and rebellion. I love this era with its energy, its music, its clothing – a time of innocence just prior to the excesses of the sixties. A time when youth culture thinks it knows everything and for the first time tries to assert itself.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Until recently, all my stories were written in pen (cheapest ball-points from Walmart-style outlets) in exercise books. I would only write on one side of the page – and then when I re-read, I would make notes/changes on the blank side. After this I’d transfer to type – in the old days on a typewriter – but now a computer. I went on a writing course once where they advised never to write straight to print – otherwise it would look finished. Back in those days, typing a manuscript was an expensive task and there’s a limit to the amount of Tippex a page can survive. However with word processors this is no longer an issue. My old method was very thorough and it encouraged me to review and modify my work. But, it took so long….. and these days I’m told I need to put books out in less time. So, I’m currently writing my next suspense novel directly via the keyboard. It is faster for sure…. time will tell if it will produce a work I’m happy with.
What authors, or books have influenced you?
My favourite authors cover many different genres – from the romantic classics of Thomas Hardy to the futuristic Aldus Huxley and George Orwell. The Social Realism movement from the likes of Stan Barstow, John Braine, Alan Sillitoe, Shelagh Delaney and John Osborne, to wonderful French authors like Francoise Sagan and Emile Zola.
What are you working on now?
I’m currently working on the third police/suspense/romance story in the ‘Passion Patrol Series.’ This one is set in London, Paris and…. my home region of Charente Maritime in south west France. I’m introducing a new police officer who is the heroine of the story – but watch out for old police friends from the previous two books. Be prepared also for some gorgeous Chateaux, royal connections and action and adventure at the top of the political food chain across Europe.
It’s due to be released in early 2017 alongside a companion historical novella that plays a key role in the story of the main book. The book within a book.
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Well, I have to say that Bookbub has always got fantastic results for me… the biggest problem is convincing them to feature my books! I was able to get regular spots a few years back but since the trad publishers have started using them I’ve not had a look in.
More recently I have been building a mailing list and trying to provide value to my subscribers by sharing news about my promos, as well as promos by other authors in similar genres.
Do you have any advice for new authors?
Write, write and write – but make them stories that you would want to read.
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Always use a bathroom if you come across one – you never know when the next opportunity will arise.
What are you reading now?
I’m currently reading a French book called “Les Vieilles” (The old ladies) by Pascale Gaultier. It’s an hilarious story of life in a tiny French town in the middle of nowhere, mostly inhabited by retired old ladies who have outlived their husbands. The book is brutal in its descriptions of their habits, their boredom, their interactions and their confusions in dealing with the modern world. It’s cruel and funny at the same time, but I can’t help wondering which of the characters I will end up becoming…. ouch.
What’s next for you as a writer?
I’m hoping that my next book will be a raving success and then my bank manager might consider letting me carry on writing so I can add further books to the Passion Patrol Series.
I’m in the process of having the first two books translated into Mandarin and as my French friends don’t speak English, they’re pressing me to get all my books out in French. The only problem would then be that they might recognise their own characters.
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?
Hmm difficult – I don’t like re-reading stories, so the books would have to be some that I’ve not tried or that have some timeless quality. Something to get my teeth into.
I think a good challenge would be the unabridged novel of Les Misérables by Victor Hugo – in French of course. It’s one of the longest books ever written having some 365 chapters and over 1900 pages. I love the musical of ‘Les Mis’ and I know it’s very much condensed. I’d like to read it in full and get the whole story.
Alongside that it goes without saying I’d need a really good French-English dictionary as there are sure to be many words I don’t recognise. I guess after the Victor Hugo is finished it could be used for me to improve my French grammar and learn the words for all the objects on the island.
For my third book I’d have to relax and have some poetry. It’s a way of recreating places and situation and of reliving moments in life that maybe would never come again on a desert island. A way to reminisce and to remind me of the ‘old world’. The best poet I know is my partner Oscar Sparrow – I know I’m biased – but nothing would please me more than taking one of his collections, particularly as some of them were written for me. I’m an old romantic at heart!
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