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Work in Progress Update: The Killing Kind
Update: The Killing Kind Initially, I took a major false turn with The Killing Kind: Angel of the South Book Three. Basically, for various reasons, I didn’t have time to plan it as thoroughly as I would have liked. The result was an opening setup of about 14,000 words that felt inauthentic to the Britgrit… Read more
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The Board as the Battlefield: Why Go is the Ultimate Metaphor in “Do Not Keep Silent”
The Search for Authentic Go in Fiction It’s hard to find authentic depictions of Go in fiction. In Do Not Keep Silent, I attempted to remedy that. By weaving the game’s mechanics—liberties, snaking dragons, and sacrifice stones—into the narrative’s tactical backbone, I attempted to caopture the suffocating tension of the PolyU siege and the wider… Read more
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Shad Thames: A London Location Made for Thrillers
For a research trip for my thriller series Angel of the South, I visited Shad Thames, which runs east along the south bank of the Thames from Tower Bridge. It’s a fascinating area, and tightly compressed. In a rush, you could see it all in an hour and a half. These were my highlights: Metal… Read more
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Sir Richard Burton’s Tomb: The Victorian Explorer’s Mausoleum in London
In a small, quiet church graveyard in Mortlake, South London, lies the extraordinary tomb of Sir Richard Burton, the Victorian explorer, translator and adventurer. A REMARKABLE LIFE Sir Richard Burton led a remarkable life. He translated the Karma Sutra and the Arabian Nights into English and was one of the first Europeans to enter Mecca… Read more
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Book Review: Katabasis (A Journey into Hell)
I had a hard time finishing Katabasis. This could be partly my fault, because I thought it would be similar to Susanne Collins’ sublime Piranesi. It isn’t, and if not for a long delay in Manchester Airport’s hellish Terminal Three, I might never have finished it. In fact, if anything, the plot of Katabasis more… Read more
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Why I Learned Go for my thriller set in Hong Kong
Go is one of the most difficult board games to master, especially without proper teaching. Yet I taught myself to play it as research for my thriller Do Not Keep Silent. Here’s why. A Hong Kong Protest Leader Do Not Keep Silent is about a young protest leader who is prepared to sacrifice everything for… Read more