1 – Can you start by telling us a little about your current book?
My newest novel is Always the Dead. Released by Red Dog Press October 1st. It's a semi-fictional noir novel based around the disappearence of the beautiful Hollywood starlet Jean Spangler in October 1949. I have been obsessed with the case for around 16 years, so the book is really close to my heart. It also incorporates my other interests which are mob history and the Battle of Okinawa which is one of the bloodiest battles in history. It sounds like a pretty hardassed book but at the core of its dark heart it's actually a love story of sorts.
2 – Are you a plotter or a panster?
I'm kind of both. I make the novel into a movie in my head. Watch the scenes play out and then I go home and write down everything I saw. If I sat down to plan it all out on paper before I started writing, I think I'd been too exhausted to even start on the novel. Plotting formally isn't my style at all.
3 – Savoury or sweet?
Savoury. Two things I miss terribly about Old Blighty are Scotch Eggs and Ginsters Cornish Pasties. Sausage rolls. Sunday Roast in the pub. I’m welling up just thinking about those things.
4 – Three books to a desert Island. Go!
Ham on Rye by Charles Bukowski
The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien
What We Talk About When We Talk About Love by Raymond Carver
5 – Star Wars or Star Trek?
It's got to be Star Trek. I grew up watching Captain Kirk battling underpaid extras in rubber alien suits. Never been a fan of Star Wars. To be honest, I've never even watched one.
6 – If you could have any superpower, what would it be?
Time travel. Is that a superpower? Let’s agree that it is. I’d travel through time preventing cold cases and would have a peek over the fence on the grassy knoll in Dealey Plaza that November day in 1963.
7 – Music or Silence when writing?
Silence. I like to have complete quiet while I’m writing. I can’t listen to music. I like to concentrate fully on what words I’m using and how they fit together.
8 – If you could live anywhere in the world, and take everything that you love with you, where would you choose?
1960’s New York City. There we are with the time travel theme again. But I’d take my daughters, girlfriend and family back to a time when the music was good, the fashion was cool and food was real food. The 60’s were such a tumultuous time but so much came out of it. Watching Ali box, Sam Cooke play live and JFK give a speech. Awesome.
9 - Your favourite karaoke song?
Rage Against the Machine - Killing in the Name of… Though it didn’t go down too well at my grandmother’s 80th Birthday party. She cried.
10 – One piece of advice to an aspiring writer?
Be honest! If you’re not going to be honest with yourself or with your readers, go do something else.
11 – You win £1 million, but you must give half to charity. Which charity do you choose, and what do you do with the rest of the money?
I’d give 25% to the Samaritans and 25% to a homeless charity because they’re two charities that are very close to my heart. I think with the rest I’d make sure that my daughters were financially secure for college and starting off their adult lives.
12 – Horror films, yes or no? If so, any favourites?
Hell yes! The Shining, of course. The Scream series. Halloween. Psycho. I’m an 80’s kid and we grew up on those movies.
13- What are you currently working on?
I’m currently working on the second draft of a very dark, twisted “romance” novel. But it’s a more realistic romance novel than what is currently out there. No one writes novels about the bad, messed-up relationships, do they? I wanted to change that and exorcise some old demons at the same time.