Back in July, I did a few interviews as part of The Scion blog tour. Here is one of them, which appeared in Rudes Review on the 8th of July. I thought I'd stick it up on here as I haven't posted much for a while... And here's another picture of the novel's cover:
What is your latest book about, where can we
find it and how long did it take you to write it?
My latest book is called ‘The Scion’ and is SF
novel in the Space Opera tradition.
When I started writing this book, it was my intention to write a gothic
SF novel. However, I was having a
lot of fun and some of my humour also crept in, which offset the
bleakness. Nevertheless, those who
have read it tell me that it is pretty dark in places.
The plot concerns a young man called Septimus
Esterhazy, an aristocrat, who lives in a penthouse on an island called Kennet;
he has little to do, so whiles away his life as a part time DJ (or at least a
future equivalent thereof). When
we meet him, his best friend Persephone, is dying. But not is all as it seems. Odd things then begin to happen: a blue star appears above
his home planet, his cousin is kidnapped and then he begins to be followed and
evenutally attacked by some odd creatures. He is oblivious to the fact that the universe’s very nature
is being threatened by a powerful alien race, called the Wraith. Nor does he know that he is somehow
involved with why they are coming.
In a separate thread, the self-proclaimed
‘Protectors of the Known Universe’, the Sassrit, are trying to do everything
they can to thwart a Wraith attack.
But time is running out for them and resources are stretched. A Sassrit agent, one of the
shapeshifting Jarthiala, is subsequently recruited to help. The path he follows leads to the
doorstep of a planet called D, an Earth colony, above which a blue star hangs,
its light reflected in the eyes of Septimus below.
As the threads begin to weave together,
Septimus has to go on a journey which will change him forever. It will make him question his
nature. He will uncover secrets
about his family that have lain dormant for years. And it will test the loyalty of those closest to him.
The book can be found on Amazon here.
I wrote part of the first chapter in
2007. This seems like a long time
ago, but I have lots of first novel chapters lying around which either get used
in shorter works or just sit in my computer’s hard drive, awaiting
resurrection. For some
reason, I was quite taken with Septimus and his friend Persephone and wanted to
find out what happened to them as characters (I knew the overriding story
arc). So I wrote their story.
Most of the book was written in 2010 and
2011. Then came various
edits. I called a friend, Liz
Williams, to ask if she’d have a look.
At the time I wasn’t even sure if it was any good. Anyway, I drove over to Glastonbury and
we met in her ‘office’ – the back room of the George and Pilgrim pub. She read it, seemed to like it, made
some suggestions and a while later I sent it to Safkhet.
What inspired you to be a writer?
It wasn’t so much an inspiration as a
calling. I have to write. This may sound a bit clichéd but it is
unfortunately true. If I don’t get
some words on a page almost every day, then I simply don’t feel complete as a
human being.
Words have been with me from a very young
age. My mother gave me ‘The
Odyssey’ and ‘Brideshead Revisited’ to read when I was five years old. So maybe I blame her.
Who is your favorite author?
I don’t have a single favourite author, but I
have many I love and look forward to reading. In the SF world, Alastair Reynolds and Paul McAuley are
probably top of my list of living SF authors. The late Iain M. Banks, who I had the pleasure of meeting on
a number of occasions, features prominently in the other list. In the non-SF world, I am a huge fan of
Haruki Murakami, Paul Auster and Julian Barnes. Justin Cartwright is also fantastic, and for some
inexplicable reason, is much overlooked.
How many books have you written?
Three complete SF novels. And another using chunks of one of
these which was given a fictional slant, but which was semi-autobiographical,
overly self-interested rubbish. I have
also published numerous short stories in various places, such as Perihelion SF,
Albedo One, Encounters Magazine, Shoreline of Infinity and Fiction Vortex (full
bibliography on my website).
What are you currently working on?
I’m currently in the process of editing one of
the above novels, ‘Machine Songs’, with view to sending it off somewhere. This is about a future Earth overrun
with alien growth, but one which still harbours some interesting drone
tech. I’ve also started writing a
sequel to The Scion as well as a standalone SF medical dystopian piece. In addition, I’ve got a few stories I’m
working on which I hope to get out into the world soon.
Do you have any advice for aspiring authors?
Read and write as much as you can. I’ve found critique groups can be
helpful, such as the Milford SF conference. But really, you have to sit at your desk, and grind the
words out. Writing takes time and
a lot of effort, with a huge dash of patience thrown in.
When I first started out I wrote to Paul
McAuley asking him this very question.
His reply was along the lines of you either are a writer or you
aren’t. Make of that what you
will.
Tell us about about yourself?
I live on the South Coast of England, a
stone’s throw from where Robert Louis Stevenson wrote ‘The Strange Case of Dr
Jekyll and Mr Hyde’, and not far from where Mary Shelley is buried. When I’m not writing, I work as a
hospital pathologist and play a 19th century German violin (but not at the same
time). At 6 foot 8 inches (2.032
metres), I am possibly one of the tallest living SF writers.
Is there anything else you want to say?
I hope everyone who reads ‘The Scion’ enjoys
it as much as I did writing it.
Thank you for interviewing
me!
