Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I’ve been writing for as long as I can remember. I can’t recall a time when I didn’t want to be a writer, and I’ve always had something in the works. It seems to be a genetic thing – at least two of my kids are aspiring writers too!
I live in South Yorkshire, England, with my family, five of whom are my beautiful children. When I’m not writing or some related activity (researching, editing etc), I’m usually playing video games. That’s one hobby all my kids have definitely inherited from me!
So far, under this name, I have published one short story and one novel.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My latest published novel is ‘When the Lights Go Down’.
I can’t remember what inspired it, but I started writing it right before the #MeToo scandal broke in 2017. At the time, the voice in my head for Peter Newton (the love interest), was Kevin Spacey. Naturally, after the allegations against him started making major headlines, it left me feeling uneasy that he was the head-canon voice of my romantic hero, and I put off writing the rest of the novel.
Cut to two years later, and I dusted off my old files and gave it a re-write with a new head-canon voice. FYI, if you want to know what Peter sounds like in my head, think Nathan Drake from the Uncharted games.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I write anywhere, at any time. I’ve stopped for a couple of minutes in the middle of a busy supermarket to dash off a couple of paragraphs. I even sat in the blistering heat at my son’s school sports day and wrote about 800 words. Not while he was competing; that would be mean to my little lad. I wrote while he sat looking bored with his little team.
What authors, or books have influenced you?
I’d say, without a doubt, the author who has influenced me most is Stephen King. Not in a stylistic or genre way, but just his books. He’s the author I’ve read the most, and some of his stories I go back to endlessly. If you ever get a chance to read ‘Nightmares and Dreamscapes’, check out the story ‘Sorry, Right Number’. I wish I could come up with ideas half as good as that.
Roald Dahl is another writer I admired as a kid. Specifically, I loved ‘Danny the Champion of the World’. It’s such a beautiful story, funny when it needs to be, but heartbreaking in other parts.
And I would be remiss if I were not to include Lewis Caroll in my list, partly because ‘Alice in Wonderland’ is one of the maddest, most enjoyable pieces of children’s literature of all time, but because he and I went to the same school. Not at the same time though, obviously.
What are you working on now?
I’m currently working on a novel called ‘Take Two’. It’s about an American man called Chris Lovett, who for spoiler-based reasons moves to the UK with his two daughters.
He slowly and reluctantly falls in love again, which causes problems for everybody involved, especially when the woman he wants is not the woman who wants him.
What are you reading now?
I’m currently reading ‘Halo: Hunters in the Dark’ by Peter David, mostly because I’ve been playing a lot of Halo Wars lately.
What’s next for you as a writer?
I have a lot of story ideas written in a book somewhere, so once I remember where I put it, I’m not going to be short of projects for a while.
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?
Do I have to take only three or four books? Can’t I take my Kindle and a solar-powered charger? No? Then I’d take ‘Danny the Champion of the World’ by Roald Dahl, ‘Never Walk Alone’ by Gareth Owen, ‘The Historian’ by Elizabeth Kostova and ‘The Pirate’s Daughter’ by Margaret Cezair-Thompson.