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

Pipelines, Prophets (Profits?) and Dreams is another ‘informed adventure’ based on the concept of re-establishing Lake Chad; once one of the world’s largest inland waters, via an international programme largely inspired by the PhD of a young woman; a refugee.
Quiet by chance I managed to incorporate in the story, amongst a lot of other structures, a ‘business’ that goes by the name of ‘The Wagner Group’ which no one I knew had heard of at the time but which has, of late, achieved a degree of notoriety! In another example of this rather strange thing that I like to call ‘prescience’ (‘cos it is flattering to think so!)

'Feeding the Beast' examines the effects of the technological revolution – mobiles, computers, chat rooms and ‘fake news’ - all of which have become very relevant as current topics of discussion. And, as I have aged, (and how!),

The Towers of Silence  is the story of an MP who, condemned by the media, his party and his constituency for a speech about race and society, goes on to commit suicide: Book 1 is written in the moments of his dying, taking his own life after the murder of his wife and children. Book 2 is the Media story

An ‘embroidered memoir’, A Foot in Both Camps is a volume of nine short stories created around two central characters; one, a youngish Englishman, and t’other a young Indian girl. Brought together, in a situation that might, just, be real, in part at least.
It tracks cultures, families, faith and the two societies as they interact in India and the UK”