The Byzantium Inheritance is a work of fiction - more an ‘informed adventure’ than a ‘ thriller’. My story describes a series of climactic events, each event leading logically to the next - potentially catastrophically. It is set against known historical

God’s Last Burlesque was inspired by my ex-father-in-law; ‘Ted’ or, to me, ‘Sir’; a man who I know for sure did actually shift some of the national boundaries on the maps of the Middle East in order to suit the needs of oil extraction. He, it was that, with his actual memories of Mosaddeq and “Sea Gem” et al, laid the foundations for the mindset that taught me to “trust none of the buggers”! I often recall how he would, when pressed (or was, more accurately, betrayed) in later life, stand in the garden (usually holding a scotch), look heavenwards whilst asking, somewhat plaintively; “why don’t you come down and fight me fair, you bastard”?....

I’ll never forget ….. whot’sisname? (…. or what did either Narcissus or Dostoyevsky ever do for me??!) along with God’s Last Burlesque, represents my attempts to put life in focus (my own life was the one I was best placed to use but it could have been anyone that I had known … if, that is, I had known someone – anyone – interesting!!).
Fortunately, it is not about me at all. Rather they contain discrete remembrances of the men (and they were largely men, as the front-line role of most women was, sadly, a bit limited in those days and places). And I try to reference what was achieved, or occurred, as a result of these comings together.
I still find it a tad strange that this ‘little lad from the coal fields can recall being present at actual happenings in the US of A, Europe, India, the Middle East and Africa; Mauritius, even. How, I ask myself, was it possible that I could recall memories of the SAS, the CIA, private jets, senior politicians, generals, big business and billion-dollar contracts (at a time when a billion was a lot)?

The story in This Blessed Plot, This Earth, This Realm, This England? began to take shape when I was sitting in the graveyard surrounding our 1000-year-old church, looking at the River Nene and thinking about, life and the universe. In so doing, as ever, I had been researching key moments, concerning people, events and ideas that have helped shape the society in which we, in the UK and elsewhere, are currently challenged to make our respective ways.
Doing my research, I ‘travelled’ a lot in my head and via my memories (such as they now are) whilst sitting around the village; “meeting” people, listening to music and reading, masses of the latter (as ever). My journey took in Shakespeare, Dickens, and Paul Simon looking for ‘America’ via Saginaw and included the Enclosure Acts and other such things. I also came across: "They hang the man and flog the woman