Now 83 years-old, fitted with a pace-maker and forbidden to indulge in contact sports, I suppose I will have to behave more responsibly from now on. Certainly I will not be making a comeback to the ring anytime soon. Nevertheless, I am happily married (still) with two children aged 51 and 49 and four grandchildren: 26, 21, 16 and 14. Born in London, living in Kent, England. Have written one book, 2 full-length plays, several one-act plays and quite a lot of short stories.
The book is called A Pattern of Shadows and is set in Kent at the outbreak of World War One. It took six years to write because of the amount of research that had to be undertaken. The whole book covers just the first month (August) in which three young people have to come to terms with the changes to their lives that the impending conflict brings. The action takes the reader to London, New York, France and India. Some sex scenes.
Could you tell us a little
bit about yourself?
In October of last year,
I celebrated 50 years of (mostly) happy marriage to my wife, Sylvia, as well as
my 80th Birthday. We have two children and four grandchildren and have
lived in Meopham, Kent since 1963, apart from spells in Hong Kong (2
years), Cyprus (6 months) and Norway (4 years). Played cricket, tennis and
football. Have written as a hobby for 45 years and have produced numerous short
stories, several plays and a number of half-finished novels - A Pattern of
Shadows is the only one of the latter I have completed.
Describe your book ‘A
Pattern of Shadows’ in 30 words or less.
Set in the first month
of The Great War, APOS chronicles its effect on the lives of three young people
who have grown up together in a small Kentish village.
What was the hardest part
of writing your book?
Researching the period,
which is why it took 6 years to write.
What books have had the
greatest influence on you?
V.M.Yeates Winged
Victory; R.C.Sherriff Journy's End; H.G.Wells War
of the Worlds; John Terraine The Right of the Line; Len
Deighton Bomber; Bill Bryson Notes From a Small Island;
Derek Robinson Piece of Cake.
Briefly share with us what
you do to market your book?
Not a lot, although I
have spent (for me) quite a lot of money with Trafford trying to manipulate
various social sites like Facebook. The truth is, I find the whole process
extremely boring and overly time consuming. I have also listed the book on
Amazon Kindle and reduced the price to £1. I think I have sold 3.
How do you spend your time
when you are not writing?
Very involved with the
local Amdram group, mostly on backstage stuff. They have been kind enough to
produce two of my full-length plays.
What are you working on
next?
Considering resurrecting
a play I'd previously set to one side as well as intermittently
writing a novel based in the 1950s.
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