Hi. Thank you for visiting my website. I’m not going to bore you with a detailed history because if there are any specific questions you have that have not been answered below then you are very welcome to contact me either via my facebook page or this site. So, in a couple of paragraphs I can tell you that I was born on a cold February morning in 1955: the nineteenth day of February to be precise. Apparently, it had been snowing all night. I was brought up in Aintree, just around the corner from the racecourse where, in later years, I would stand at the Melling Road gates and watch the horses thunder past. The Grand National brought the crowds flooding into our little world and we kids loved every minute of that day.
I attended Hugh Baird art college for three years before leaving to work at Blacklers Stores in Liverpool. It was there I worked on their famous grotto from March through to November when it was taken apart, transported from the warehouse in Bootle to the store and reconstructed. I married Ann in 1976 and moved to Maghull, Merseyside. In1978, our daughter, Lindsay was born and in 1981 I left Blacklers to join a telecoms company as a sign writer, later training as an engineer. Lindsay is our only daughter but we have two wonderful grandchildren, Sonny and Kasper.
Question and answer.
What inspired you to write?
There isn’t one specific thing or event that I can point to. I was never an avid reader at school although I loved the Charlotte Bronte novel, Jane Eyre and recall trying to write something in a similar vein but giving up after a couple on pages! I wrote several poems as a fourteen-year-old but unfortunately, they were lost.
I guess that my desire to write contemporary fiction was fuelled during a family holiday in Cyprus when I bought two books at the airport. One was called, ‘The Annunciation’ and the other, ‘Impulse.’ The books captivated me and so my love affair with writing began.
Was ‘Finding Amelia’ your first novel?
No, I had several attempts, most of them ran out of steam long before the end. I can’t even remember the title of the first novel I completed but it was rejected by a major publishing agency with a footnote that they received up to 4,000 manuscripts a week but only chose about two every year! People say, never give up but I did —- for a few months at least.
Have you ever written a short story?
Yes. Several. I submitted them to a variety of weekly magazines but none of them were accepted. However, I have had two factual articles published back in 2001.
What inspired the dark waters trilogy?
It was back in 2010 I think. I visited Speke Hall in Liverpool and in one particular room, I remember seeing the figure of a young woman seated at a desk by a window. There was nothing spooky about the place but I was inspired by the atmosphere, feeling that I’d been transported back in time. I suppose that was the beginning although it was many months later before the story of Amelia began to take shape in my mind.
So, ‘Finding Amelia.’ took seven years to write?
Not exactly. I’d completed three quarters of the novel by 2011 but was unable to tie up the loose ends. Nothing seemed to work, and at the time I was getting quite a few bookings playing guitar at restaurants and dinner events. My laptop lay gathering dust till 2016. It is thanks to my wife that I returned to writing. It was one Sunday afternoon and we had gone for a drive. I was feeling quite low at the time and after a good heart to heart, Ann suggested I went back to writing my book.
I was feeling negative about the whole publishing world at the time. Was it really worth finishing a novel that would never be published anyway?
But my wife was determined. In her eyes, I was a better writer than half of the novelists whose books graced the shelves of the major bookstores and if none of the agencies wanted to know then we would find the money ourselves. It was her confidence in my ability that inspired me. The rest, as they say, is history.
How did you end up at Beaten Track Publishing?
After I’d completed the novel, I decided not to self-publish. If I really believed that the book was good enough then I had to believe that someone, somewhere would feel the same. It was a friend who told me about Beaten Track and I finally plucked up the courage to contact them. That’s when I first spoke to Debbie McGowen who asked me to submit three chapters along with a synopsis. A week later, I’d signed a contract!
Are any of your characters inspired by people you know?
That would be telling! Seriously though, in the course of my work I have visited hundreds of homes and have met with people from all sections of society from wealthy professionals to those struggling to make a living, some with up to three different jobs, just to keep a roof over their heads. I have also worked in the homes of feral families who have no regard for laws or boundaries. So it has given me an insight to human nature that has proved invaluable when creating my characters.
How much of yourself is in the character of Robert Adams?
I think it would be impossible to write in the first person without revealing something of your own character and some of Rob’s issues with his father’s faith stem from my own doubts regarding the teachings of the church. However, Robert Adams is a fictional character and has not been based on anyone in particular.
In the world of literature, who inspires you?
I really admire Stephen King; What a brilliant imagination! However, if I was to name one particular novelist whotruly inspired me, I’d have to say that Nicholas Evans, author of ‘The Horse Whisperer.’ which was made into a film starring Robert Redford and Scarlet Johansen. His writing style and amazing ability to create truly believable characters make him one of my favourite authors. There are others of course: Linwood Barclay is the master of twists and turns and Ken Follett’s historical novel, ‘Pillars of the Earth.’ Is brilliantly researched piece of writing.
Bad language and sex: How far would you go?
It’s a stock answer, I know, but gratuitous sex or language is off limits. Of course there will always be those who might consider some scenes in ‘A Rising Evil.’ to be gratuitous, but there are occasions when I feel it necessary to stay ‘in the bedroom’ otherwise, the passion is lost. The same is true of bad language.In ‘Finding Amelia.’ The reader is made aware that Jenny Adams was influenced by her grandfatherwho was a religious man and she rarely swore. I was mindful of this throughout the Dark Waters trilogy but there are occasions where she is pushed to her limits! There are other characters whose vocabulary would be littered with obscenities and I have had to reflect this while censoring the passages at the same time!
Do you believe in spirits and ghosts?
Yes, but I’m sure there is a rational explanation to many people’s experiences of what they consider to be paranormal, so you might say I’m sceptical believer. However, I like to think that even those who don’t accept that there is life after death can still enjoy my books. After all, you don’t have to believe that there’s a battle waging in outer space to enjoy Star Wars, do you?
You have written a children’s book. What was your inspiration?
Answer well, if it wasn’t for my grandson, Sonny, ‘Peter Pattison and the Prophet’s pen.’ would never have been written. His fascination with the Universe and space travel inspired me to write about a young boy and his friend who make contact with people from Perulius, a distant planet almost identical to Earth. The book was going to be a ‘one off’ but I’m already considering a sequel!
You play the Guitar. Tell us more!
I took up the guitar in 2005, learning to pick out basic melodies on the internet. Several years later I found work playing in restaurants in the Merseyside and Lancashire area. It was basically laid back instrumental background music. If you’d like to know more, check out the mellowmoods music page.
Do you listen to music when you write?
Yes. Music is an important part of my life and I have set up a playlist of songs and artists that inspire me. To be honest, I like songs with pathos: songs that stir the emotions and bring a bit of a lump to the throat. Leonard Cohen and Paul Simon are not only great musicians but fine poets as well although I also love the music of Abba. Songs such as ‘Slipping through my fingers,’ ‘The Winner takes it all,’ and ‘Chiquitita,’ have simple but powerful lyrics. I don’t like musical snobbery: if I like a song and it resonates with me I couldn’t care who the artist is.
Okay, what is on your playlist?
They are the songs I’d take with me to a dessert Island. Dusty Springfield’s ‘I close my eyes and count to ten,’ brings back memories of my early teens when I had a massive crush on a local girl and during one rather hot summer I lie in the back garden listening to the radio, waiting for the song to come on. It is still one of my favourites to this day, while Sinead O’Connor’s version of ‘Nothing Compares to you,’ still brings a tear to my eye: the ultimate heartbreak song. There are many others of course and the list changes frequently. New songs are added, others are deleted. Some, however, such as the ones I’ve mentioned, will always be there.