It is with great pleasure that I hand my blog over to my guest, author Steven Thompson. Steven writes non-fiction and fiction books on a wide range of subjects and today he shares a little of his inspiration for writing and an extract from Brutal, his latest thriller just released in June 2019.
I hope you enjoy!
My name is Steven Thompson and I came into novel writing in a novel way. I started writing my books on the park and ride on the way to work. I was working in retail, not really enjoying it that much and looking for a future when I could follow my passions. Writing has always been a part of my life. As a kid I always had a notebook, making observations, writing poems and making lists. I went on to study linguistics at Lancaster University before disappearing off into the world that so many of us occupy. I worked long hours, paying off student debt and making strides in the work world. But a large part of my creative being went unfulfilled.
Fast forward a decade or two and I was still working the daily grind, thinking that there was no other way. That’s when I decided to use the little nooks and crannies of my day to write. My first novel, David’s Goliath, was written in a few fleeting moments here and there – sitting on the bus on the way to work, in a lunch break, while watching the television. I found that I was hooked on writing. But I still needed to pay the bills. Like many fledgling writers, I ghost-wrote for others This meant I could learn the trade while getting paid. From there I managed to release my first novel and then built on that to write full time.
The current series of books is centred on the battle between Augustine Boyle, a detective, and Alaaldin Hussein, a serial killer. Book 2 has been recently released and features Augustine making his way back from an injury sustained battling Alaaldin the last time out. (Read on for an extract)
[ About the Book ]
Augustine Boyle lays in a hospital bed, the killer Alaaldin Hussein is on the loose. The team is in disarray. We left them last Summer picking up the pieces of a killing spree that had terrorised a city. This Summer doesn’t look any better.
The team of detectives have one thing and one thing only on their minds. It’s capturing the killer. But there are so many dynamics to take into account.
Their ex-leader has been seriously injured. Will he pull through? They have a new leader. How will he keep their focus on the job?
[ Brutal – An Extract ]
“Andrew wasn’t sure what he was looking at. He had seen the lions being fed before, but it was chunks of meat. This looked different. It looked like the lion had clothing in his mouth to go with the meat he was eating.
Emmie didn’t have anything like the same level of confusion. She was blatantly aware of what she was seeing. She grabbed Andrew by the hand and turned his head away from the scene. She needed to find someone in authority. She needed to get the zoo closed. As she walked back towards the penguin enclosure, knowing that there were staff members there to feed the birds, she was confronted by other families doing when she and Andrew had imagined. She shouted loudly, “don’t go that way. There’s a problem with the floor.” It was the first thing that came into her head. “People have been slipping over and they’re going to close it just now. Why don’t you all head back with us to see the penguins being fed. We are here all the time and that is the highlight of the day.” The fear in her voice was drowned out by the organiser taking over. Emmie made sure nobody got past her and found two of the zoo staff when she arrived at the penguin feeding show. She calmly asked one of them to look after Andrew, explaining to him that she needed to go and help someone, he understood, before she started taking the other to the lion enclosure. The second zoo staff member radioed back as they walked, and Emmie explained what was going on. They were ready to shut down that part of the zoo and maybe more if needed. When Emmie and the team member arrived back at the lions, there was someone looking formal and concerned waiting for them.
“I’m Andrea, the zoo manager. It’s quite unusual for a member of the public to close sections of our zoo. Can I ask who you think you are giving that order?”
“I’m sorry you think of this as an inconvenience, but I’m pretty sure that one of your lions is eating one of your zookeepers,” Emmie was blunt. She thought there was no time for niceties and didn’t like the tone of the zoo manager. She doesn’t know who she is messing with, thought Emmie.
Silence. Emmie supposed that there were no words to answer what she had just sad. A tear rolled down the cheek of the zoo manager. She was in shock. This couldn’t happen. But the words of one of the visitors were so confident that she believed every word.
The two of them walked slowly towards the lion enclosure as though a stall in their journey would invoke time to work backwards and rescue the zookeeper from the belly of the lion. As they walked, Emmie was on the phone, having dialled 999.
“Police. The zoo. I don’t know. Quickly,” she said with a pause of a few seconds between each word. It was quite a scary prospect for Emmie to return to the lion’s den, but she would deal with it by being organised. The character at the other end of the phone asked succinct questions and this appealed to Emmie’s sense of directness. The call ended, and her reluctance returned. But by this time Emmie was within sight of the lion enclosure. She took a deep breath and looked up.”
[ Bio ]
Steven Thompson writes non-fiction and fiction books on a wide range of subjects. He has a degree in Linguistics from Lancaster University and has used this study of language to great effect. His fiction style is reminiscent of the authors he admires such as Philip Roth and Jo Nesbo. The stories are written with great introspection and are highly observational. Readers delight in the way that Steven takes them on a journey with the characters. The broad range of subjects shows a talented and competent writer.
His non-fiction books are written about subjects he has directly experienced in his life. Steven Thompson has worked extensively in the property industry and in writing, and this knowledge and experience shows through in the books.
As a writer of great talent, Steven Thompson is fast becoming one of the most respected authors in the UK and will go on to great things in the future.
Twitter – https://twitter.com/steventauthor
Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/StevenTAuthor/
Website – https://steventhompsonauthor.co.uk/
