Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I was chartered accountant working in the City of London for forty years before retiring. Since retiring I have published three novels, all of which have a sci-fi edge. I like to write realistic speculative fiction based in the current day or near future.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
AndroDigm Park 2067 is a novel about the near future where a new generation of near human android is being introduced into the workforce and causing social unrest. AndroDigm Park is a park populated with android creature and human replicants where the super rich can indulge their wildest dreams. The park name is a mixture of the words Android and Paradigm. The inference is that androids create a paradigm shift in society. The year is 2067, the anniversary of the ‘Summer of Love’ when thousands of hippies descended on San Francisco. Both the centenary celebrations and the Park are the backdrop to the story. It’s a very dark world and has a Blade Runner feel to it.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Many writers say you have to write everyday. I don’t. But I think about the stories I’m working on everyday.
What authors, or books have influenced you?
Science Fiction: Isaac Asimov, Poul, Philip P Dick, Frank Herbert
Others: Dan Bown, Frederick Forsyth, Stephenie Meyer.
But I’m a story teller and I take a lot of inspiration from movies, particularly sci-fi movies.
What are you working on now?
I’m in the early stages of planning a sci-fi novel, mapping out the main sequences and scenes to see if the story idea works out.
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Since April I have been using Amazon’s AMS advertising. It seems the most effective form of advertising. I have tried others but not with any great deal of success.
Do you have any advice for new authors?
Keep at it. Find a decent editor and someone to design your book covers. Everything else you can do yourself. It’s hard work, and you need to learn a set of new skills, but it’s also very satisfying.
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
A writer once wrote that they moved to an Apple Mac operating system, simply to use Scrivener software as it was the best writing software available. I had used Microsoft Office software for most of my professional life, but on a whim I bought a MacBook Pro when I retired. I have never looked back. Scrivener is amazing. And now it’s also available on the Microsoft operating system too. I would recommend it to any writer, and I would add that I have no connection to the Literature and Latte whatsoever.
What are you reading now?
Most of my recent reading has been technical research for my novel. Of course it’s sci-fi, but that doesn’t mean you can ignore science fact and not be up to date with scientific discovery. It’s about making the story as accurate and plausible as possible. For example, how long would it take a spacecraft using anticipated developments in technology in the next seven years to reach Mars? Did you know that Mars was closest to Earth only once in every two years. And what is the effect of a Hohmann transfer orbit? It all sounds a bit techie, I know.
I also read a wide range of books about writing and screenwriting, which I find is fascinating subject. I want to learn as much as I can about story telling. And some of the best story tellers are employed by the movie industry.
As for fiction, the last two novels I have read have been Philip P Peterson’s Flight 39 and Blake Crouch’s Dark Matter.
What’s next for you as a writer?
Finish my fourth novel.
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?
That’s a difficult question. I rarely read novel more than once. Maybe the latest Dan Brown or Frederick Forsyth thriller.
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