| My first novel, Far Point was a conspiracy/techno-thriller about a reclusive engineer who investigates a fatal accident in China. Although it is not about me, the story is based on real-life incidents, and it features people like those I knew and worked with.
I started writing it when I was pinned down by a typhoon in Hong Kong. I was trapped in my hotel by the storm and the choice was simple: the bar or the book. Having suffered from too many visits to the former, I retreated to the latter. My decision was made easier by the fact that I had picked up a paperback at the airport on my way out and after reading it I thought, "That was awful! I'm sure that even I can do better than that!"
The rest, as they say, is history. I wrote the book and for a variety of reasons, I decided to publish it using "Print on Demand" technology. An American publisher - lulu.com - offered this as a very simple, straightforward and economical service. Lulu was also tremendously efficient and professional and as a result the book quickly began to appear in world-wide listings. People started to buy it from bricks-and-mortar bookstores as well as through the internet.
Well, that was three years ago. In that time Far Point has sold well, and it even won an award (see below).
Spurred on by this success, I have just finished writing the sequel. The working title of the new book is Sub: Achilles and it tells the story of how the hero from the first novel deals with a personal tragedy and moves on to exciting new adventures. This book is less technical then "Far Point" but instead focusses more on a threat to the electricity industy across the globe. As with the first book, political intrigue comes to threaten highly technical engineering operations, and the hero has to fight off attempts to stop his work before it exposes an international conspiracy.
The book is now with an agent, and I am now in the slow and painful process of waiting ..... |
|
