Acrian I was looking to write
something with international appeal. With
that in mind, the period from the end of the 1980s to the beginning of the next
decade was fertile soil to plough, with the Velvet Revolution in eastern
Europe, the first Gulf War in Iraq, and the end of apartheid in South Africa
signalling huge social and political changes across the globe. While plotting a course through that history,
I also wove a narrative that confronted the personal impacts upon my characters
from the spread of HIV/AIDS, the infected blood scandal and the Hillsborough
disaster in the UK.
I needed to put news gathering and reportage at the
centre of my tale, and the emergence of satellite television gave me an
opportunity to pit two newspaper proprietors against each other in a battle for
control of this new broadcast media. To
that end, I created a larger-than-life puppet master in Johannes Botha, whose skirmishes
with the real-life Rupert Murdoch form the core of the action.
AEW What first got you into writing and why?
Adrian When I was about 12, my mom scraped together
the money to buy me a cheap typewriter. She
must have seen something in me, but unfortunately the bloody thing was useless
and the keys kept jamming! After leaving
school, my ambitions were curtailed when real life got in the way and I ended
up earning a living on the factory floors of the West Midlands. Finally, at the grand old age of 42, I got my
first PC and the world of the word processor was at hand. Since then, I haven’t looked back.
AEW You write crime fiction. Is it all imagination
or do you do research?
Adrian As my story is set in recent history
(1989-91) I had to extensively research the events covered. I’m old enough to vividly recall them, but I
didn’t want to make mistakes (or end up getting sued!) so I was meticulous in
my work. Thankfully, a lot of my readers
have complimented me on my attention to detail.
AEW Have you tried/dabbled with other genres or
writing for other forms of media?
Adrian Yes, I don’t want to get
pigeonholed as a crime thriller writer, so my next release will be an urban
comedy called ‘Tenement Tales’, followed by a children’s story aimed at helping
kids to make friends at school. I’d love
to try my hand at a screenplay for ‘Yesterday’s News’ – I can dream, can’t I?
AEW Absolutely!
Making stuff up is the best bit of being an author for me. But back ot my quiestions, famous authors
such as Roald Dahl and Dylan Thomas had a special space for writing. Do you have a writing shed of your own?
Adrian I wish I
could say I write from my villa overlooking the Med, but being an honest boy,
the tiny box room of my house is my creative sanctuary. I take a notebook with me on holidays and
suchlike to scribble ideas or to make notes on locations that may be included
in my stories. Feeling particularly
inspired during a holiday in Croatia, I wrote a rough draft of about 25 pages
of Yesterday’s News.
AEW And finally, if you had a whole afternoon to
yourself and could choose to spend it with any one individual, living or dead,
or a character from a book, who would it be and what would you discuss?
Adrian That’s a no brainer! I’d love to pick the brains of the fella who I
consider to be the greatest Englishman of all time, Mr Charles Dickens. We’re talking about the first international
celebrity here, the first writer to perform his work on a theatrical stage.
What must that have been like? He was
Elvis, Bowie, Freddie Mercury – the rock and roller of his day.
He gave the wealthy world a conscience and I’d want
to glean his thoughts on social injustice and prejudice of all forms. What would he think of today’s politicians?
Would he incorporate today’s innovations (AI for
example) in his creative process? Would the convenience of Google be preferable
to personal observation? I’d be
fascinated to see him include motor cars, mobile phones and the internet in a
contemporary work.
Before we went our separate ways, I’d want to know
why he felt the need to finish off Little Nell in The Old Curiosity Shop? I’d
tell him he owes me an afternoon of tears for that one!
AEW Well, that’s a refreshing change from some of
the comments I get about Mr Dickens. He’s
one of my writing heros too!
about the author... Adrian is a proud son of Birmingham, England. After leaving St Thomas Aquinas grammar school at 16, I earned a living with my hands, either in heavy industry grafting on the factory floors of our local motor manufacturers, or on (usually) freezing cold building sites. In later life, I changed careers after acquiring qualifications in marketing and business management, while developing an interest in writing professionally.
With support from my long-suffering partner, Sheila, a love of travel, sports, history, politics and the arts have enriched my life in so many ways, and I live in hope that the innocent child who entered the world will eventually leave it as a well-rounded individual.
about the book... Marcus Botha, a ruthlessly corrupt mineral-mining and shipbuilding tycoon from South Africa, dramatically sells up and moves to 1970s London, reinventing himself
as a UK media magnate. For two decades his notorious national newspaper, The Horizon stirs the
imagination with its sensation-seeking journalism,
whether luridly chronicling celebrity sex scandals or whipping up AIDS
hysteria.
When apartheid ends in his homeland, rumours of his
deadly past emerge, leading to a murder investigation and charges. Compounding
his problems, social unrest in the UK boils over via the Poll Tax riots,
leading to the fall of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. As a vocal advocate of
Thatcherism, his hopes for her support in his battle to avoid extradition go
with her.
With his problems mounting, he is blindsided by a
corporate betrayal which threatens to bring his dazzling empire crashing down.
Can the cunning Botha avoid justice and financial
ruin?
You can get the book Here
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