Paul Dalton – Author Q&A

Paul Dalton

Paul Dalton

After completing an art degree, Paul Dalton got a job in a bookshop and then a library. His storytimes were legendary. Through his writing, he explores climate change and the questions that go with it. He set his novel in the present day, as climate change is a story for now, not the future. He puts jokes in his writing as sometimes all you can do is laugh. ‘Don’t Go To Work, The World Is Ending,’ is out May 25th with Indie Novella.

Paul can be found at:
Website: pauldalton.co.uk
Instagram: @pauldalton_
BlueSky: @p-dalton.bsky.social

Tell me what inspired you to write your debut novel?

Like a lot of people, I spend a lot of my time thinking about climate change and have come to the conclusion that only normal people can fix it. The trouble is, that normal people don’t feel like they have the power to do so. So I thought, why not write a story about some normal people actually getting to fix a problem?

What came first, the characters or the world?

Characters but it’s all linked. A good world should be a character in its own right.

How long did it take to write?

About 2 years, but that includes about 9 months of rewrites with the publisher.

Do you have a writing playlist? If so do you want to share it?

It’s the album ‘Pink Flag’ by Wire. It’s post-punk perfection. It’s only 30 minutes long so I must have listened to it thousands of times.

What kind of reactions have you had to your book?

Surprise mainly, I didn’t tell too many people about it until I had a publisher interested.

What can you tell us about your next book?

It’s early days but: Dracula. Fascism. Christopher Lee.

Which genres do you read yourself?

Anything with a good hook for fiction and as widely as possible with non-fiction.

Don't Go To Work, The World Is Ending

Don’t Go To Work, The World Is Ending

What will always distract you?

I don’t get distracted, I get temporarily inspired.

What were your favourite childhood books?

The Pongwiffy books. A smelly witch and a Dutch hamster, what’s not to love? Honourable mention for Bill’s New Frock and Harry the Poisonous Centipede.

Do you have any rituals when writing?

Does listening to the same 30 minutes of music on repeat count?

How many books are in your own physical TBR pile?

Only about 5 at the moment but that’s because the other 30 are in a drawer where I can’t see them so I don’t get guilty.

What is your current or latest read?

The Origins of Totalitarianism by Hannah Arendt. Which is surprisingly compelling, like a non-fiction 1984

and finally, what inspired you to write the genre you do?

I think fantasy suits big ideas. Humans have always used fantasy to try and understand the big stuff. Gods and monsters and all that, is just an attempt to process the things that don’t make sense. I like to write about the things that don’t make sense, which, unfortunately, includes climate change.

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Nigel Stewart (2025) – Author Q&A

Nigel Stewart

Nigel Stewart

I’ve published 5 novels: Colouring In (2019); The Lines Between Lies (2020); Secrets We Hide From Ourselves (2021); Justinian’s Daughters (2023); and The Road Home (2023). The first 3 were with Purple Parrot Publishing, the last 2 with Provoco Publishing Limited. I’m no longer working with either company and my books are currently being reworked ahead of self-publication this spring/summer.

Based in Kirkham, Lancashire. Still spend time writing and recording my own songs.

Nigel can be found at:
Bluesky – @menigestew.bsky.social
Instagram – @menigestew
Facebook – facebook.com/nigel.stewart.3720

Our first interview was back in 2022

Tell me what inspired you to write your (debut) novel?

There was a very general sense of being around people whose talents were hidden underneath “life”. But in more specific terms, a guy I’d been in a band with was a really talented artist, especially with pastels and watercolours. But he tended to put that in a distant second place behind his corporate career. He was also a bit weird about praise for his art – only wanted it from people he believed were ‘experts’. I kind of developed that into Colouring In, creating this artist that had those characteristics, but also threw in another side, in which the main character believed he couldn’t be creative if he was also in love/in a relationship. For subsequent books I’ve been inspired by: something I saw on a train; a party; a WW2 airfield; and cathedrals.

What came first the characters or the world?

For the debut, definitely the characters. In subsequent books, it’s been more of a mix. In Justinian’s Daughters, the setting (Pembrokeshire) was and is right up front as a character.

How hard was it to get your first (debut) book published?

Colouring In was self-published in 2016 even though I finished the original draft of the book in 1994. Long story, which I’ll summarise as “life got in the way”. But the self-published edition led to a connection and collaboration with a local indie publisher on an upgraded version of Colouring In, then on two further novels.

How long did it take to write?

I started writing Colouring In during mid-1990, which is when the novel is set. It underwent many versions and changes until I felt it was finished, in 1994. It then sat on floppy disks until around 2007 when I had another surge of work on it. Then, in 2014 I had a major life change and writing became a big part of my life so for two years I really pulled the story apart and put it back into a new shape ahead of self-publishing. Then, finally, ahead of the 2019 edition another few months of work on the book in collaboration with PPP. So, in total, about 8 years. The fastest I’ve written a first draft of a book was 4 months – that was The Road Home.

Do you have a writing playlist? If so do you want to share it?

I don’t write with any music or distractions. I do create playlists FOR some of my books – because they have so much music in them. Here’s the one for Secrets We Hide From Ourselves – https://music.apple.com/gb/playlist/secrets-we-hide-from-ourselves/pl.u-EqmVfa55YNb

How many publishers turned you down?

None, since I took myself seriously. But back in the 90s, when I made enquiries with the MS for Colouring In, I just got ignored.

What kind of reactions have you had to your book?

Almost always favourable. One book blogger has written incredibly complimentary reviews of my work. A couple of 2 star ratings on Goodreads. I think people are sometimes perplexed by my lack of genre, but most people get that I prefer to be genre-defying.

What’s the favourite reaction you’ve had to your book?

Another author – Stef Barnfather – review contained the words: “…Stewart’s voice is direct… with grit swirling throughout his lustrous prose… and Justinian’s Daughters is top-notch speculative fiction.” I love that. It made me glow.

What can you tell us about your next book?

It’s a set of short stories, nine in total. The first is set in 1900 and the last in 2020. One character from each story moves forward to the next one, as a kind of generational theme – they occur every 15 years. Each story looks in on real lives during a time of some great momentous world event (eg – VE Day in 1945, the 1990 poll tax riot in London).

Do you take notice of online reviews?

I had to go back to reviews to answer the above question. I know they’re there, but I don’t spend too long checking them. Perhaps I’m more conscious of them when a book is new.

Would you ever consider writing outside your current genre?

Because I don’t really write in any genre – I just tend to see everything sitting in Literary Fiction – I feel like I’m constantly changing to try new things. I’ve recently finished a novel set in 1575, which will need to be marketed as Historical Fiction.

What did you do before (or still do) you became a writer?

Throughout my writing career, until August 2024, I worked in the IT industry as a procurement and supply chain manager. I took redundancy, and now writing is what I do.

Which author(s) inspire you?

My early inspirations were Evelyn Waugh, Virginia Woolf, Kazuo Ishiguro and Iain Banks. Also quite like Thomas Hardy, Ian McEwen and Jo Nesbo. But more recently I’ve grown to really like Heidi James’s books, and her podcast is hugely inspiring. Ronan Hession’s Ghost Mountain knocked me over.

Which genres do you read yourself?

I’m not particularly driven by genre. I’ve never read much crime, sci-fi, horror or historical fiction. I tend to like more general stuff, and I like dropping in on books I see being fêted on socials.

What is your biggest motivator?

As a writer, to keep pushing myself to do new things and evolve what and how I write. As a human being, my children.

What will always distract you?

My ludicrous imagination.

How much (if any) say do you have in your book covers?

I’ve always had complete control over them. For the forthcoming re-editions of my previously published novels, I am working on new designs with my daughter who is brilliant at graphic design.

Were you a big reader as a child?

Until perhaps 12/13 years old, yes. I found studying literature at school made me disinclined to read and by the time I did A level English I hardly read at all. It was too much like schoolwork.

What were your favourite childhood books?

The Winnie the Pooh books (stories and poems) and Wind in the Willows. White Fang was a book I loved – read it loads. I also loved the book they recently made into a film called Operation Mincemeat. The book was The Man Who Never Was by Ewen Montagu. Spike Milligan’s war memoirs were big favourites in my very early teens. Three Men in a Boat was also much-loved (it still is).

Do you have a favourite bookshop? If so, which?

Locally, there’s a shop in Lytham called Plackett and Booth where I generally buy my books. It’s small, with lots crammed into it. They always help me find what I’m looking for. I always find Blackwell’s stores warm and welcoming.

What books can you not resist buying?

Anything by Bluemoose Books. I’ve almost always got at least 3 of theirs in my TBR pile.

Do you have any rituals when writing?

Switch off phone. Switch off all media. Take 5 minutes break every 30. Stay hydrated but also caffeinated.

How many books are in your own physical TBR pile?

Loads – but I keep it simple and always have The Next Five books lined up in a discreet pile.

What is your current or latest read?

I’ve recently finished The Mill on the Floss by George Eliot. I really enjoyed it. This morning, I started on a short stories collection by Raymond Carver called What We Talk About When We Talk About Love.

Any books that you’re looking forward to in the next 12 months?

Colette Snowden wrote Captain Jesus, one of the best books I’ve read in the last 5 years. Her new one is coming soon and I can’t wait for it. (Ashamed to say I’m not sure what it’s called – but when we met she assured me it’s brilliant!).

Any plans or projects in the near future you can tell us about?

Reworking all five of my existing published novels for re-publishing, which should be done by the end of the summer. I’m submitting the shorts, individually and collectively to prizes and into agents. Started work on a new novel on Feb 5th which I’m excited about. Then I’ve also got my Tudor minstrel to work on once I’ve done a shed load of research.

Any events in the near future?

I’m busy writing, so no plans to attend anything related to my own work. I’m in Haworth later in March to catch up with Nydia Hetherington as she launches her new novel Sycorax.

and finally, what inspired you to write the genre you do?

Because I’m not really driven by genre this is tricky to answer. I think, more than anything, what inspires me to write is my love of words, making them work, making them dance and sing. I love the escapism of writing and the places it takes me to.

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Scott Berndt – Author Q&A

Scott Berndt

Scott Berndt

Scott is a proud resident of Saint Paul, MN. It is here where he indulges his passion for history as a public school teacher, drinks an obscene amount of coffee, succumbs to crippling bouts of nostalgia-induced daydreams, and raises two kids with his amazing wife.

Sometimes he does all of this at the same time.

He’s just published his first book, John Cleese Saved My Life! …And Other True Tales Of Pop, Politics, And Prayer. It’s a Gen X mash-up where memoir meets history book. Set in Ronald Reagan’s America, he unravels his adolescence and the political and pop culture forces that shaped his character and transformed his religious faith.

Scott can be found at:
Website: scottberndt.com
Bluesky: @scottberndtauthor.bsky.social

Tell me what inspired you to write your (debut) book?

I’ve wanted to be a writer/author since I was 9 years old. I have always been obsessed with and inspired by music and history. About 15 years ago, I came to the realization that I wanted to tell a story that I could leave behind for my kids and I could do it by leaning on my love of music and history. Write what you know, you know? So, in the end it became what I like to call, “A Gen X mash-up where memoir meets history book.”

How long did it take to write?

Ten years of research and writing and an eight month publishing process. There were times when I was really productive, writing several pages a week, and stretches of time – months – where I didn’t even open my laptop.

Do you have a writing playlist? If so, do you want to share it?

Since my book is firmly situated in the 1980s, I listened to a lot of 80s music to place me in the mindset of my younger self. Here is a playlist of the songs I explore the cultural significance of in my book:
Under Pressure – Queen & David Bowie
Ship of Fools – World Party
Land of Confusion – Genesis
The Boy in the Bubble – Paul Simon
Jammin’ Me – Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers
Sign ‘o the Times – Prince
Undercover (Of The Night) – The Rolling Stones
All She Wants To Do Is Dance – Don Henley
19 – Paul Hardcastle
99 Red Balloons – Nena
Russians – Sting She Works Hard For The Money – Donna Summer
Allentown – Billy Joel
Pink Houses – John Cougar Mellencamp
Born in the U.S.A. – Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band
The Way It Is – Bruce Hornsby and The Range
Pride (In The Name Of Love) – U2
Do They Know It’s Christmas? – Band Aid
Sun City – Artists United Against Apartheid

What’s the favourite reaction you’ve had to your book?

Aside from the kind words that appear on the front and back cover, one reviewer put my book in the same realm as Chuck Klosterman, which is a huge compliment. Other reviews have appreciated the depth of research, layered storytelling, and humor in my book.

What did you do before (or still do) you became a writer?

I have been a public school teacher since 2003. Teaching, reading, and writing about history as a career definitely helped me formulate ideas for my book over the years. Because I am so immersed in it, it felt very natural to write a book.

Do you have any rituals when writing?

I drink a lot of coffee when I write. I don’t think one word of my book made it to the page uncaffeinated. Music is good in the background until I get too distracted. I’ll hear a song and then want to watch the video on Youtube…and then a live version of the song….and then a rare television appearance by the artist. Then it spirals out of control and I need to either turn it off or admit that I’m not in the writing zone anymore.

Any plans or projects in the near future you can tell us about?

I’m just trying to self-promote the best I can – reaching out to people who I think would dig my book. I plan to try to do public readings at local bookstores if they’ll have me! I’m an introvert by nature, so the hustle won’t be easy! So, I really appreciate this opportunity to connect with the Big Bearded Bookseller! Thanks!!!

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Brian Pinkerton – Author Q&A

Brian Pinkerton

Brian Pinkerton

Brian Pinkerton is the author of novels and short stories in the thriller, science fiction, horror and mystery genres. His books include Abducted (a USA Today bestseller), Vengeance, The Intruders, The Nirvana Effect, The Gemini Experiment, Anatomy of Evil, Killer’s Diary, Rough Cut, Time Warp and How I Started the Apocalypse. Select titles have also been released as audio books and in foreign languages. His short stories have appeared in PULP!, Chicago Blues, Zombie Zoology, and The Horror Zine. Brian lives in the Chicago area with his family and a cunning pet poodle.

Brian can be found at:
Website: www.brianpinkerton.com
Facebook: facebook.com/people/Brian-Pinkerton-Books/100063675901891/
Bluesky: @brianpinkerton1.bsky.social
Instagram: @brianpinkerton1
Goodreads: goodreads.com/author/show/288505.Brian_Pinkerton
TikTok: @brianpinkerton97

Were you a big reader as a child?

Definitely. My mother was a high school English teacher, and we made many trips to the local library to stock up on books. Then I wanted to create my own stories. At a very young age, I would enact dramas with the Fisher Price Little People and then write down the stories on notebook paper.

What can you tell us about your next book?

The Perfect Stranger is a tech thriller based on contemporary headlines about artificial intelligence, cyberattacks and deepfakes. The story is focused on Linda, a lonely remote worker for a company operating in a virtual workplace. She suspects something is not right with one of her coworkers and becomes convinced they are an A.I. persona with a destructive agenda. No one believes her. Before long, she faces digital gaslighting, online torment and identity theft from an unknown enemy. She must uncover the truth on her own. The Perfect Stranger will be released in February 2025 through Flame Tree Press/Simon & Schuster.

What inspired you to write this book?

Working at a company where they hired remote workers without ever meeting them in person. I began to think… what if one of these new hires wasn’t even human?

The Perfect Stranger

The Perfect Stranger

How hard was it to get your first book published?

It took a lot of perseverance. A ton of query letters. But I lucked out – there was a mainstream New York publisher of mass market paperbacks starting up a new thriller line. I had a thriller manuscript. There wasn’t yet a huge slush pile of submissions to get lost in, so I got noticed. They liked it, bought it and published it. Sometimes timing is everything. That was many years ago – now the mass market paperback format has mostly been replaced with eBooks and trade paperbacks.

How long does it take to write a novel?

About nine months – like giving birth. I have to stay super focused and committed during that time. From conception to delivery.

Do you take notice of online reviews?

I do. When someone is thrilled by something I wrote, it makes my day. Writing is such a solitary pursuit. It’s not like performing in front of a live audience with an instant reaction. The silence can be deafening. I really appreciate it when people take the time to share their response to one of my books.

Do you have any rituals when writing?

I handwrite my first drafts. I’m much more creative with a pen and paper than typing into the computer. I’m less distracted, more freed up to go on vacation in my imagination. I make edits on the handwritten pages and then eventually read them into a computer with dictation software. It’s a good exercise to read the prose out loud to make sure the dialogue sounds true and the sentences aren’t too clunky and overlong. Plus I’m a terrible typist.

How many books are in your own physical TBR pile?

Way too many. And it’s not just one pile. It’s many piles around the house. Many come from author friends, and I want to support them and read them. Time is my biggest enemy. There’s never enough time.

Would you ever consider writing outside your current genre?

Actually, I do this already. It must drive my readers crazy, because they have to follow me from genre to genre. I’ve done mystery, thriller, horror, science fiction. In general, I like to write anything that involves suspense with everyday people confronting something extraordinary. It’s fun for me to see how the characters respond. And how they deal with seemingly impossible odds.

What is your current or latest read?

Collecting Laurel and Hardy by Danny Bacher and Bernie Hogya; and Hate Revisited #4 by Peter Bagge. Sorry, but you asked.

Any plans or projects in the near future you can tell us about?

I’m super excited about the new book, The Perfect Stranger, so I’m lining up events to get out of the house and meet readers and sign books. I’ve also been working with publishers to bring some of my older works back into print, like How I Started the Apocalypse through Dark Arts Books.

What is your biggest motivator?

Readers. I wish more people read books in this era of endless online distractions. I am deeply appreciative of those people who still enjoy a good book.

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Jodi Taylor – Author Q&A

Jodi Taylor

Jodi Taylor

Jodi Taylor accidentally became a bestselling author when, after much rejection, she self-published her first book and mistakenly made it free. It soared up the free Kindle charts and, with over 400 glowing reviews, was spotted by a publisher. Fast-paced, witty and delightfully unconventional, her Chronicles of St Mary’s series had lead to two spinoff series plus a paranormal thriller series. Jodi only started writing at the age of 60.

Jodi can be found at:
Website: www.joditaylorbooks.com
Bluesky: @www.joditaylorbooks.com
Facebook: facebook.com/JodiTaylorBooks

Tell me what inspired you to write your (debut) novel?

I was supposed to be retired. Three weeks later I was bored so I thought I’d see if I had the mental discipline to write a book. I never intended it to be published – I just did it for fun.

What came first the characters or the world?

Oh, the world, definitely. Even when I was at school I used to dream of actually visiting famous historical events and what that would be like. It was only after I stopped working that I actually had the time to sit down and think about how that could be accomplished. Years as a facilities manager helped with sorting out the nitty-gritty.

How hard was it to get your first (debut) book published?

Very – no one seemed interested. Most of the publishers to whom I submitted my manuscript didn’t even bother to reply. I’m afraid alcohol played a large part in my publication. I was plied with wine and persuaded to self-publish.

How long did it take to write?

My first book took around twelve months. Now that I’m supposed to know what I’m doing it takes me between six and nine months to write a book.

How many publishers turned you down?

All of them! I stuck all my rejection letters on the bathroom wall to give me something to read when I was waiting for something to happen!

What kind of reactions have you had to your book?

Mostly the reactions have all been good. People seem to like my books.

What’s the favourite reaction you’ve had to your book?

People sometimes write to say my books have helped them through difficult times in their lives. I’ve had some tough times myself – I think we all have – and I turned to books for comfort. I never dreamed that one day I’d be able to pay all that back. It’s actually quite humbling to find that something I’ve done has made a difference to peoples’ lives.

What can you tell us about your next book?

I have two books out next year – a supernatural thriller, Bad Moon is out in May. The next Time Police novel – Out of Time – comes out in September. I’m currently writing the next Smallhope and Pennyroyal story – working title When Things Are Bad – Make Them Worse. The story of two time-travelling bounty hunters continues.

Do you take notice of online reviews?

Yes. I tell people I don’t, but I do. I advise other authors not to take any notice and then don’t practice what I preach.

Would you ever consider writing outside your current genre?

I already have. I’ve written an historical novel – A Bachelor Establishment. I really enjoyed venturing into another genre. Doing something different is a bit like a holiday.

What did you do before (or still do) you became a writer?

Lots of things because I’m very old. I owned and ran a hotel in Turkey. I was in local government for far too many years. I’ve worked for the MOD, been in the RAF and worked for the private sector.

Which author(s) inspire you?

Ooh – tricky. J R R Tolkien, C S Lewis, Terry Pratchett, Jane Austen, T Kingfisher, Georgette Heyer, Agatha Christie, Caimh McDonnell, Lindsay Davis, Ben Aaronovitch … someone stop me, please.

Which genres do you read yourself?

Everything, really, except time travel books. I worry about inadvertently using someone else’s plot. Or finding – just as I finish a book – that someone published something identical but better only last week. Otherwise I read anything that appeals to me.

What is your biggest motivator?

I don’t really think I need motivation. Writing is a kind of compulsion for me and I just can’t stop. Which is a little concerning because, as I said, I’m very old and I worry about the quality of my books as I tread my inevitable path to the grave. I can’t imagine doing anything else now.

What will always distract you?

Good question. Chocolate. Tea. Matt Damon. Wine. A good book. Cheese. The urge to go to the loo. Henry Cavill. Sausages. Again – someone stop me.

How much (if any) say do you have in your book covers?

Quite a lot, actually. It’s understood that the final decision is my publisher’s but I make suggestions relating to design, colours and font and most of them are acted upon.

Were you a big reader as a child?

Yes – I was always being told to put down my book and go and play outside. Good job I didn’t listen.

What were your favourite childhood books?

This sounds silly now, but when I was young there were books for girls and books for boys. Girls’ stories involved ballet dancers and ponies and boarding schools. Boys stories were about explorers and astronauts and dinosaurs. Mariners of Space by Erroll Collins was a great favourite of mine. There were no women in it at all but, surprisingly, she was female. Great book – sadly out of date now we know Mars and Venus are uninhabited but I loved it.

Do you have a favourite bookshop? If so, which?

Sadly, other than Waterstones, there are no bookshops in my town, but The Wallingford Bookshop – in Wallingford, not surprisingly – is great, as is The White Rose Bookshop and Cafe in Thirsk.

What books can you not resist buying?

Any of them. I believe I can get treatment for it …

How many books are in your own physical TBR pile?

I can’t see print so well these days, but my kindle TBR pile is heroic.

What is your current or latest read?

I am reading Conclave by Robert Harris which has been a favourite of mine ever since it was released.
Any books that you’re looking forward to in the next 12 months?
Ring the Bell – C K McDonnell
Stone and Sky – Ben Aaranovitch
The Evenhanded Booksellers of Edinburgh – Garth Nix
A Case of Life and Limb – Sally Smith

Any plans or projects in the near future you can tell us about?

Writing more books. Last summer I spent some time working on a story outline for A Bachelor Establishment which is a possible TV series.

Any events in the near future?

Jodiworld in May, a gathering of readers and fans at Coventry.

and finally, what inspired you to write the genre you do?

I wanted to write the sort of books I wanted to read.

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Stu Hennigan (2025) – Author Q&A

Stu Hennigan

Stu Hennigan

Stu Hennigan is a writer, poet, editor and musician from the north of England. His book Ghost Signs (Bluemoose) was shortlisted for two national literary prizes, including Best Political Book By A Non-Parliamentarian at the Parliamentary Book Awards in 2023. His short fiction, essays, poetry and criticism have been featured by Prospect, 3:AM Magazine, Lunate, Lune Journal, Broken Sleep Books, Poetry Birmingham Literary Journal, Massive Overheads, Visual Verse and Expat Lit. His next book, Disappear Here: Bret Easton Ellis’ America, a social and cultural history of America from 1970 to the present day as seen through the lens of Ellis’s novels, will be published by Ortac Press in late 2025. His debut novel Keshed is also going to be published late 2025 by Ortac Press; he also plays guitar in the rock band Kamień.

Stu can be found at:
Bluesky: @stuhennigan.bsky.social.com
Substack: @stuhennigan

Our first interview was back in 2022

Tell me what inspired you to write your book?

I’ve got 2 WIP’s at the moment so I’ll say a bit about both. There’s a novel called Keshed which is sitting with a publisher and a long-form non-fiction project which is out late next year. The genus of the novel was interesting because it grew from something that had been in my mind for years but I’ll explain that one in the next answer. The non-fiction project is called Disappear Here, and it’s a social and cultural history of American since 1970ish, analysed through the prism of Bret Easton Ellis novels. The spark for that was when I was rereading his backlist last year, again, while I was off sick with shingles and waiting for the paperback of The Shards, and I realised he was going to be 60 in March 2024 and that the year after would be forty years since the publication of Less Than Zero. I thought it was time someone looked at his literary legacy objectively rather than so many people’s opinions of him being filtered through the shitstorm over American Psycho, which still, frustratingly, persists after 30 years, when it’s a book that’s often misrepresented and misunderstood, and isn’t at all a marker for what the rest of the backlist is like in many ways.

What came first the characters or the world?

I’d had the opening scene from Keshed in my head for almost as long as I can remember. It was a tableau of this character in a certain space and setting and I’d written the first few pages at least ten times over a number of years, but I could never get past that because I couldn’t figure out what had gone down for him to end up where he was. One day when I was out in the van doing the deliveries that were chronicled in Ghost Signs, without even consciously thinking about it – and bear in mind Ghost Signs didn’t exist as a concrete thing either at that point, although Kev at Bluemoose and I had started speaking about it – I had this flash where all of a sudden I knew why this guy is where he is in that scene. And the whole novel pretty much appeared, more or less fully formed, in the space of five minutes. Obviously when I came to write it there were bits that were added and taken out of what I had in my head that day, but substantially it was there in terms of the plot, story arc and all the rest of it. That’s far from standard though, with long-form fiction it’s different every time in terms of how it’s conceived.

How hard was it to get your book published?

I’m going to caveat this by saying before Ghost Signs I’d given up writing for 15 years because I couldn’t stand all the rejections I had for the novel I was hawking around after uni, cos otherwise people will read what’s coming and just go, “WHAAAAAAAAAT?! Why can’t that happen to me?” but it happened almost by accident. I was making loads of notes while I was doing the deliveries that went into the book, thinking I was actually writing about lockdown, and at the same time I was live-tweeting some of the things I was seeing while everyone else was effectively under house arrest. One day I was telling Kev something that’d happened that day when I was on a really tough estate and this guy was getting a bit heavy and I thought I might have to deck him. Kev said, Are you writing any of this down? And I said, yeah man, I’ve got about fifty thousand words worth of notes. Can I see it? Absolutely not, it’s not even punctuated, it’s like the Kerouac scroll and a Hunter S Thompson speedfreak spew rolled into one. But you can have a look when I’ve decided what to do with it if you want…….And that was it. We started talking about it as I was still doing the work, sussed out a timescale and really it went from there. So it happened organically, it wasn’t a case of me having to sub it or anything like that. I didn’t even know I was writing a book before then, just trying to write down as much as I could for posterity because it was such a mad time, one of those where you know you’re living through something epochal and transformational rather than those labels being imposed retrospectively after the culture has shifted. We just realised there was an opportunity for us to work together to create this document not just of Covid but the ruins of the country in the midst of austerity and it’s credit to Kev for having the foresight to clock it so early on.

How long did it take to write?

Interesting question. I had nine weeks of diaristic accounts that were written almost on the spot but as I said, they weren’t structured or punctuated or anything. I didn’t include this in the book because it wouldn’t have added anything and no one would have believed it anyway because it seems too neat, but the last episode it recounts was an afternoon when I spent about three hours talking a woman with a tumour into getting an ambulance when she was literally screaming in pain like she was being murdered but didn’t want to leave her dog at home. I’d set that evening as the time I was going to start writing up the notes – we’d planned eight weeks of journals so I’d not documented much of the ninth week, but that episode had to go in; I was really shaken when I went home though and decided I’d get pissed instead. But half my brain said, give over, you procrastinating bastard, get on with it. So I sat down with my cider and my laptop and made a start, then I woke up at four a.m. the next day, wrote from half four till half seven, saw the kids, did eight hours on the van, then wrote till midnight, then did it again every day for nine days. I didn’t know this at the time but I have ADHD and that was the hyperfocus kicking in, it wasn’t something I planned to do, not as if I was setting the alarm or anything. I’d rather have been asleep tbh. But that was the first “draft” of a fashion, or the raw material everything was sculpted from. After that I did some editing on it with Heidi James, sent it to Kev, and then it was a case of him saying, can you do x, y, z to the MS, I’d rush off and do it in no time, then it’d take him ages to get back to me cos he’s so busy; then I’d get another list, smash it out, then wait again. After 6 months of that it went to Annie Warren, who edited it, and she was like, this MS is in such good shape we could publish it now; but let’s do some work anyway. This was January 2021 and Covid was still in full swing and Kev didn’t know when to publish it while it was still a ‘live’ story, so he gave us 12 months to work on it but we had it done by September and the MS was with Annie for a lot of that time – we had the luxury of having no pressure in terms of deadlines or anything so it was a really smooth process. It sounds ridiculous to think of now when I look at it, but realistically if you out together to total time it took in terms of the work I did on it and subtract all the time when other people had the MS etc, I reckon it won’t have been much more than six months, if that.

Do you have a writing playlist? If so do you want to share it?

I need silence when I write these days; I don’t even wanna hear people breathing. Obvs that ain’t possible when there’s kids in the house so if they’re awake and up I stick my ear buds in without connecting them to anything and it’s lovely then, just me and my Mac and the words in my head. Bliss.

How many publishers turned you down?

This is fucking unbelievable given what I said about Ghost Signs, but I sold Disappear Here (the Bret Easton Ellis book) without a pitch or a proposal as well. It’s too long a story to go into now and it’ll make unpublished writers despair, if there are any reading, but the tl;dr version is I mentioned in an off-the-cuff catch-up conversation I was having with Henry at Ortac Press that I was working on an essay about Bret as a cultural archivist, it turned out Bret was the writer who got him into reading, so butterfly effect etc there’d be no Ortac without him. I sent him some of my research just because he obviously knew a hell of a lot about it and sounded like he might find my nerdy Excels interesting. So I flipped my wig when he emailed back two weeks later offering a contract, cos I’d only sent it out of interest and that was the last thing I expected to happen. Just to make people feel better though, I’ve had five (I think) rejections for Keshed, all from publishers who said they loved it and gave the most ridiculously flattering feedback, but said it wasn’t quite right for them for whatever reason. Which is fine. Rejection’s all part of the game and small presses have to curate incredibly carefully; at least I’m not being fobbed off with platitudes, although I’m 90% sure I’ve found it somewhere to live now anyway. Watch this space.

What kind of reactions have you had to your book?

Ghost Signs was shortlisted for two major awards, which was mental, and I got to go to the Houses Of Parliament in a room full of Lords, Ladies and MPs wearing a STILL HATE THJATCHER shirt for one of the ceremonies, which was better than winning, which I didn’t anyway. It didn’t get that many press reviews – hardly any, actually, aside from a wonderful one from David Collard in the TLS, one from Anna Coatman for Tribune and a tiny – but amazing – one in a New Statesman roundup. The public response was unbelievable though. I had Professor Lucy Easthope championing it from early on, which was crazy when we first started talking and I looked her up to find she’s an internationally-renowned expert and was one of the advisers whose input the government scrupulously ignored during the pandemic. To have someone like that being so vocal about it, especially the value she placed on how the data was used, was madness, cos I’m not an academic and was basically winging it as I went along, like I do with most things.

What’s the favourite reaction you’ve had to your book?

Someone Tweeted me a photo of Ghost Signs being waved on a picket line during a train strike, that was fucking epic and I wish my grandad had been around to see it; Michael Portillo compared it to Orwell and Engels, which was insane, then tried to tell me the people in the book were all high on drugs and didn’t deserve any help; so I got to stick it to him live on national TV and his reaction to that was pretty special, so much so they cut the interview, pretended the link had gone down and erased me from their YouTube archive. My sister texted me halfway through the interview and said I looked like I was about to burst out laughing, which I was very close to doing to be honest. I’ve had to do a fair few things with politcos since it came out and it’s always fun, especially with those of the conservative persuasion. They think cos I’m a scruffbag and talk like a cross between Sean Bean and Liam Gallagher I’m some sort of yokel; they start off patronising, then switch to trying to baffle you with jargon when that doesn’t work, abut they get the shock of their lives when this northern oik they think they can browbeat and walk all over starts coming back at them like Mick Lynch channelling Mark Fisher! One of the voices in Keshed is quite experimental and I’ve been trialling it as a performance piece at some gigs with Steve Kirby and Industrial Coast Records up in Boro. First time I did that, was reviewed as “Arab Strap meets Barry Hines meets John Cooper Clarke,” which is likely to be the best write-up I’ll ever get. Have to shout out the legendary Memorial Device on Twitter too, who was the first person to read it who’s actually a working class northerner and is steeped in the language and culture I’m trying to recreate on the page. Their entire critique consisted, verbatim, of: “Fucking loved it. Every word fiercely authentic.” Which was more valuable to me than pages of notes, because if they recognise that world and see the truth in it, I’ve done justice to the people I’m writing about and nothing is more important to me than that.

What can you tell us about your next book?

I’ve already talked about Disappear Here, but essentially it’s arguing for Ellis’ back catalogue as a social and cultural history of the US over 50 years. In The History Of Forgetting: Los Angeles and the Erasure of Memory, Norman M Klein proposes to use a history of popular culture as an alternative form of literature; I’m inverting that, and using the literature of Ellis as a history of popular culture. Keshed is a novel about class, belonging, masculinity, male mental health, parenthood, relationship breakdown, addiction, and the impossibility of living under the constraints of systems of government you have no wish to engage with but have no option but to avoid. Cheerful shit like that. The next book, Cardboard Cut-Out, which I’d have written by now if Disappear Here hadn’t, um, appeared, is a love letter to my best mate and vocalist in my first band Dave Stodart, who died in 2008. That’s gonna be a novelisation, fiction, small-town Spinal Tap full of excruciating comedy but with some moments of genuine, shit-shaking tragedy, and believe it or not, that silly fat bastard dying on me isn’t even the saddest part.

Do you take notice of online reviews?

Absolutely not. I don’t read Amazon or Goodreads reviews or anything like that – therein lies the path to madness. There’s a great line from Mike Davis where he says (I’m paraphrasing) along the lines of, some writers like to keep their progeny close at hand, others boot them out the door when they’re old enough with orders never to call home. That’s definitely me. Once I’ve finished a piece of any description and it’s out there, it belongs to the public and they’re welcome to it. I’m always well into the next thing by then anyway. Thing I always say to people – you take 100 online reviews of a book that’s won every award going and there’ll be at least one in there saying it’s not worth the paper it’s written on. 100 reviews of the worst book ever will turn up a couple that say it changed their lives. Eye of the beholder an that; you can’t do anything about it. If folk don’t like your work they’re probably not your audience, and if all else fails, just remember what Sid said about the man on the street.

Would you ever consider writing outside your current genre?

I don’t have one. I write fiction by preference, it never occurred to me I’d ever even write a book of non-fiction, never mind publish two of them, it’s still bizarre to me how it’s happened, not that I’m complaining. But I’ve published short fiction, essays, criticism, poetry, stuff that can loosely be called “journalism” too, online and in physical print. I love writing all forms for different reasons but long-form fiction is definitely my happiest hunting ground and I’ve said that all along. Hopefully when Keshed comes out folk will see why I’m so adamant on that score!

What did you do before (or still do) you became a writer?

I’ve worked in libraries for 18 years and my job atm is buying books for all 34 libraries in Leeds, as well as doing literary events and a bunch of other stuff. Before that? I’ve done all sorts, usually minimum wage; worked in a petrol station (that could be a novel, for real), as a gardener/handyman (never has a person been less suited to their job title), shit-shovelling on building sites, moving plasterboards……Long periods on the dole as well when I was losing my shit completely in my early to late twenties and trying to kill myself with drugs and booze.

Which author(s) inspire you?

This is a really difficult question and I’ll apologise in advance cos this is gonna be a long answer. I could give you a list of favourite writers but they’re not always the ones that inspire me, they’re two different propositions. I have a small pantheon of untouchables, whose work is pretty much perfect and are the yardsticks by which I judge everyone else – Denis Johnson, Bret Easton Ellis, James Baldwin, Annie Proulx, Pat Barker, Jean Rhys, Cormac McCarthy. I came to him too late to call him an influence but someone like David Peace is inspiring to me because he managed to become extremely successful despite his early work being coalmine at midnight dark, and not only that but he did it in a northern context and vernacular at a time that predate this new vogue for “northern fiction” whatever the fuck that is, by two and a half decades. When I started working in libraries it was just as the fourth Riding book came out. I don’t read a lot of crime fiction – which was where it was classified at work – so didn’t give it a thought, but I picked one up one day and the first page had SAINT CUNT written across the middle in massive bold letters and I thought, aye aye, this fella’s not fucking about, let’s see what’s going on here then. So I read the first one, caned the rest, then GB84, and I’ve loved him ever since. His new one, Munichs, is a masterpiece, btw, even by his standards. Or someone like Elfriede Jelinek – I once saw her reviewed as “An unbelievably confrontational writer,” and I thought, man, talk about life goals……..She’s as uncomfortable and gnarly as it gets, but amazing every time.

Opposite end of the spectrum is someone like Rebecca Solnit, who covers the most incredible range of topics with apparent ease; and whatever the subject, she offers original ideas, expressed with perfect clarity, in the most gorgeously clean prose imaginable; and yet she’s never verbose, or self-indulgent, which really she could be forgiven for if she was on occasion, with the technical chops she has. The kind of writer – like those above, she’s definitely in the pantheon, as is Peace – who writes sentences that make you shake your head in astonishment, page after page, book after book. Like, how the everloving fuck did you arrange those few words to make them convey that?

Right at the beginning of 2024 I read Birding by Rose Ruane, Spent Light by Lara Pawson and Ava Ana Ada by Ali Millar one after the other and that was inspiring, in that, here’s three very different books by three fabulous writers who’ve all got their own spin on how to write fresh, edgy, engaging fiction that’s devastatingly intelligent and deals with complex modern issues in really inventive ways, but without sacrificing narrative drive, characterisation etc, and it made me take a step back and look at what the fuck I think I’m trying to do with my own fiction, which seemed utterly ordinary in comparison. And I don’t mean that in a bad way, it’s just stylistically and thematically the novel I’m on atm is coming from a very different place to all of those, and is set more in various decades past than now. But I thought, shit, should I be doing this? Then, well, no, actually, not this time, cos if that’s how I thought I should be writing, I would be. But I trust my instincts and go with whatever has the strongest pull at any given time. The fact it made me stop to even consider it was wonderful though – there’s nothing worse than complacency. All three are shining examples of what the modern novel can still do in the right hands, and what could be more inspiring than that?!

Which genres do you read yourself?

I find labels reductive and unhelpful so I’ll just say something prosaic and banal about the fact I read any book that I think looks interesting regardless of what label other people want to hang on it – hence why I said I don’t tend to read a lot of what’s generally classed as “crime” fiction but it didn’t stop me picking up David Peace, or the early Ian Rankin stuff when that was around in the 90s. I do read an AWFUL lot of non-fiction though, on any number of subjects.

What is your biggest motivator?

Rage, spite, and making up for the fifteen years I lost when I gave it all up, probably due to a distinct lack of both as far as my attitude to the industry was concerned.

What will always distract you?

I have ADHD so probs not the best question to ask! I am super-focused though when it comes to my work though. My folks are retired now so when they go on holiday, if I can spare the time I go live at theirs for a week and write. Bottom of the moor, little cul-de-sac with three houses, 90 year old neighbours on both sides…..I do 12 hour days as standard then, sometimes more if I have to, without batting an eyelid, and often have to make myself stop.

How much (if any) say do you have in your book covers?

A lot more than I thought with Ghost Signs. The cover’s my favourite thing about it, designed by Fiachra McCarthy; when it came to doing the design I honestly thought I’d be given a choice of three and have to hope my choice tallied with Kev’s…..but he hooked us up, Fiachra asked what I wanted, I tried to explain as best as I could and it didn’t take long at all to arrive at the finished one. Kev had the final call, obvs, but we’d already spoken about how it might look so we were all on the same page. We had the design more or less sorted, then Kev said, how about this but with Gallows Pole green? And that was the end of that one! For Disappear Here, I have a really talented mate who does a lot of pop-art sorta stuff, so I asked him to mock-up a scene from Less Than Zero in a Pettibon style last year just to see what it looked like. Even the roughs were incredible so I’m hoping next year we’ll be able to get him to do that one, but that’s something me and Henry will have a chat about much further down the line.

Were you a big reader as a child?

Fuck yeah. Taught myself to read before I even started school and was so far ahead of my age it was ridiculous. By the time I left primary school in 1991 I’d already read everything Stephen King had published, plus a ton of my grandad’s Jack Higgins, Wilbur Smith, Ed McBain, all that. Was onto Dostoyevsky and Burroughs first/second year in High School, then of course I read American Psycho when I was about 13 and discovered Bret Easton Ellis……that one certainly turned out well didn’t it?!

What were your favourite childhood books?

Truthfully, I can’t answer this, because I was reading adult books so young I can’t remember. I used to get asked this question a lot in schools when I visited them with work – the story I tell is that I remember, vividly, having a book read to me at school when I was about 8, but could never remember the title or the name of the writer, just that it was something to do with the plague and that one of the characters was a shepherd called Clem. Literally 30 years later, on a shelf at work, found it – Children Of Winter by Berlie Doherty. Read it since with both my kids and it’s still brilliant. I read I, Coriander by Sally Gardner with my nine year old daughter earlier this year and that’s a magnificent bit of work, the best and most technically accomplished children’s book I’ve read with my two by a fucking distance. Such rich language, brilliant storytelling, complex and nuanced, and doesn’t patronise or talk down in the way so much children’s writing does these days. Top marks for that and have recommended to anyone who’ll listen, parent or not!

Do you have a favourite bookshop?

If so, which? The Old Pier Bookshop in Morecambe. Looks like a bomb has hit it, and you sometimes get the feeling if you take the wrong book off the wrong shelf the whole place will fall down…..you can see daylight through the walls in places. I used to go two or three times a year and fill the boot of the car up. It’s a treasure trove. Can, and have, spent all day in there more times than I can remember.

How many books are in your own physical TBR pile?

On my research pile I’ve just counted 82. That’s mostly non-fiction, and doesn’t include the ones I still need to buy; or any of the supplementary fiction I need for background/context, OR any of the scores of academic papers I’ve downloaded……. And that’s the work stack!

What is your current or latest read?

Agency Of Fear: opiates and political power in America by Edward J. Epstein. This is a research text, as they all are, and will be for the next nine months at least. Published by Verso, who are amazing, half the stuff on the shelf is by them.

Any books that you’re looking forward to in the next 12 months?

Going to use this as an op to say everyone brace themselves for Naomi Booth’s new one, out in March. She’s always been a quality writer but this still feels like a big step forward and I think now she’s with Corsair if they market it right it could be massive. I’ve had a sneak peek at the cover and the fella who wrote Ghost Signs calls it “A brooding and bruising psychodrama about the anxieties of 21st century motherhood that links the primal potency of the female body with the northern landscape’s elemental power.” Dunno what that fella is, but I’m not gonna argue with him.

Any plans or projects in the near future you can tell us about?

Well, hopefully once Disappear Here is done I can get Keshed out there after some proper tightening and polishing, then start work on Cardboard Cut-Out. I’ve a set of short stories sketched too. If I didn’t have to work, I’m not kidding, I could write probably full-time for about five years without ever needing to get another idea with all the various things I have that I’d like to do. And I get new ideas all the time.

Any events in the near future?

None related to my own work but I’m interviewing Sam Mills about her new book on bisexuality in February at Blackwells in Manchester, and I’ve got the dream line-up of Naomi Booth, Lara Pawson and Rose Ruane for an International Women’s Day event at work in March. Hoping to do some stuff – in and out of work – with Robin Ince next year, and there’ll be plenty of gigs with my band all being well too.

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