Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I am originally from Bedford in England but I grew up in Middlesbrough.
In the mid-1950s, when I was four years old, my parents took me to Jamaica to live which must have planted the seed to travel in me, as I have been travelling ever since. I have lived in ten different countries and worked in five-star hotels and restaurants around the world as a chef. I have also worked on cruise ships, Antarctic supply ships, a gold mine in Papua New Guinea and the Falkland Islands after the war with Argentina. I have now retired to Thailand where I live on the beautiful island of Koh Samui and travel extensively throughout South East Asia researching my travel books.
I have written eight books in total, five of them in my Retirees Travel Guide Series. The first book I wrote in the series was the”The Retire in Thailand Handbook (The First Six Months)” and was published by Austin Macauley in November 2019,
My other three books are a novel; “Thai Died…Murder in Paradise” my biography, “You will never amount to anything” and “The Deptford Mask Murders” which tells the story of how in 1905 during a bungled robbery Alfred and Albert Stratton murdered two people and were later tried, convicted and hung when fingerprint evidence was allowed to be entered as evidence for the first time in the UK in a capital murder trial.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
The book is called Thai Died…(Coronavirus has came to Koh Samui but so has another killer). I started to write this book in April 2020 when I was in self-isolation after I contracted the coronavirus. For me, the virus was just like a normal dose of the flu, but for millions of people around the world they were not so lucky. While I was in lockdown and seeing the effect the virus was having on the world I decided to write a suspense novel that was centred on Covid-19 that would highlight the difficulties and frustrations that any police force would face when trying to solve a major crime during the worse pandemic in over 100 years, when most of the population, except for essential services were told by their governments to stay home to stop the virus from spreading. The book is about a murder in Koh Samui here in Thailand with links back to the notorious Ronald and Reggie Kray the foremost perpetrators of organised crime in the East End of London during the 1950s and 1960s.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Being of a certain age I didn’t grow up with computers but I have certainly had to adapt to them since I started writing books. I do most of my writing thanks to a laptop and the wonders of Wifi sitting on a beach or around a swimming pool in Thailand or some other Southeast Asian country. Quite often when the sun is going down my inspiration is helped along with a cocktail or two.
What authors, or books have influenced you?
The first books I remember reading were the Just William series of books by Richmal Crompton. As I matured I read everything Charles Dickens wrote and all of The Hobbit series of books by J. R. R. Tolkien, I also loved Catch 22 by Joseph Heller. My daughter was born in 1974, and as she grew older I would read Watership Down by Richard Adams to her at bedtime. Looking back now it was probably a little scary for a little girl, but she loved the book as much as I did. Being at sea for much of my life, books were an important source of entertainment in the few leisure hours that you get working on a ship. I would read everything that I could get my hands on, from Agatha Christie to Ernest Hemingway, from Nevil Shute to Leslie Thomas. My favorite authors of today are James Lee Burke, Elmore Leonard, Dennis Lehane, Kate Atkinson, and Khaled Hosseini. I also like to read any travel-related books especially anything by Michael Palin and Bill Bryson. I don’t think any author actually influenced me; I just loved losing myself in a good book.
What are you working on now?
Now that the coronavirus travel restrictions have been lifted in Thailand, I am driving around the country doing research for my next book that will be about Thai women who work in the lady-bars and massage shops in Thailand, Its a tough job but someone has to do it.
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I have recently published a website as it seems a necessity in this day and age. Apart from that, being a retiree and of that certain age I am not very knowledgeable about computers and social media, so I rely on word of mouth and hopefully my publisher getting my name out there. I know I must be missing out on many selling opportunities but I find the whole social media thing rather boring and time-consuming.
Do you have any advice for new authors?
As I am a new author myself there is not much advice that I can offer. Just keep doing what you’re doing; even if you don’t get published you’re still improving your mind, enjoying what you’re doing and fulfilling an ambition. My brother John, who was a much better writer than I will ever be, tried most of his life to get his books published and never succeeded. I wrote my second book in 2017 (the first book I wrote was never meant for publication) and I was offered a publishing contract for it within a few months of releasing it on Amazon. What I discovered since becoming an author is that getting a book published is quite often down to luck, being in the right place at the right time and of course writing a great book.
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
“Travel whenever you can. The greatest experiences are seeing other cultures and getting a real perspective on life and the lives that other people lead”. Which is the way I have always tried to live my life. Many people live in a bubble and are not aware of what is happening in the world around them.
When I was in Cambodia recently researching my book, I spoke with a lady who was just forty-two years old the same age as my daughter. Her father was arrested, imprisoned and later killed by Pol Pot’s henchmen for the crime of being a teacher. When she was one year old, with her mother, older brother, and sister, they were forced marched 330 kilometres from their home in Phnom Penh to Sihanoukville to work on a communal farm. Her mother died along the way of sickness and malnutrition and she was separated from her brother and sister, and she would never to see them again. She was taken in and raised in impoverished conditions by another family who had befriended her mother on the long march south. Being born in Cambodia during those murderous days she had not had the opportunities in her life that my children or grandchildren have had. She had no education, no real family, and had been working as a prostitute since she was fourteen years old to survive. It certainly put everything in perspective for me. You don’t see the real world by watching it on the television.
What are you reading now?
I am going back to some of the books that I read when in my teens. I have just finished To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee and I have just started Catch 22 by Joseph Heller.
What’s next for you as a writer?
I normally write my books in the wet season here in Koh Samui (October until December) but because of the travel restrictions laid down by the Thai government and having to stay home over the last six months due to Covid-19 I have been unable to travel to do research. I am going to take a few months off to do some travelling and hopefully get inspiration for my next book about Thai working ladies.
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?
The Blah Story by Nigel Tomm. It’s reputed to be the longest book ever written. I am not sure if I would enjoy it but it has 7312 pages so it would last a while whilst waiting to be rescued. It’s probably cheating but I would take the boxed set of The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings. How to Survive on a Deserted Island by Tim O’Sheid would be invaluable and for a little light entertainment Adolf Hitler; My Part in His Downfall by Spike Milligan.
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