Cutting Edge Press, Edinburgh, 2001 Richard Tomlinson was a brilliant young spy. The UK’s Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), also known as MI6, was lucky to have him. He was intelligent, tough both mentally and physically, skilled, brave and had loads of initiative....
Some people say one should write about what one knows. I have — until now. My first novel was written in a spasm of angst. It was set in Bosnia, where I undertook a number of six-week-long reporting assignments for Reuters. I couldn’t wait to get out of the war zone,...
The proof reading did not start well. An idealistic young person, a recent graduate in English literature, took it upon herself with great charm, energy and ambition to elevate me – out of the goodness of her heart (one presumes) – from Grub Street’s...
Leaving aside those publishers who don’t respond at all to submissions (and there were surprisingly many in my case, including the smaller imprints Dark Edge Press, Hobeck Books, Muswell Press, Red Dog Press and Lume Books, to name just a few), there are also those...
For me, waiting is the worst part of the writing business. I try to get on with the next project, of course, but somehow progress is slow and uncertain because at the back of my mind is this shrill yet silent scream of fear and hope intermingled: when will the...
A highly entertaining spy thriller and, for me, as someone who tries to write spy novels, an important lesson in how to sustain tension and conflict – and the author does so largely without tradecraft, the apparatus of espionage, and for the most part, without...
