What genre do you like writing most? I only write fiction now but I don’t write just one type of genre – my novels are very diverse and I think they reflect my life in general. I’ve lived all over the world so I’ve immersed myself in different cultures, values and ways of life. I’ve also had many “lives” – as a bus conductor, soldier, computer programmer, racing car driver, pilot, screenwriter, sailboat captain, father and author. I’m insatiably curious and never tire of trying new things.
And so I think the way I write is the way I live life – I love to delve into different genre, and use each genre to explore life and ideas from many different perspectives. So for example, An Unquiet American is provocative political thriller; The Orange Moon Affair the first of a new suspense series; The Book of Baker series are satires which allow me to use humor to say things I could never get away with normally; Dry Tortugas is about the drama and fragility of family relationships; and the “horror” book Collisions explores PTSD and a mind becoming unhinged. Yet what they all have in common is that they draw on my own experience and emanate from my intense curiosity about and desire to make sense of the world around me.
For me, great books entertain, inspire, inform and expand my sense of possibility. They take me on a wild ride or wonderful journey of imagination – and so if I can achieve just some of that for my own readers then I’m very happy and deeply grateful to them for letting me into their lives.
What’s your greatest strength as a writer? I think my greatest strength is my ability to have a general idea of where I want to go with my stories but allowing them and the characters to write themselves. Rather than forcing a fixed idea, my books and characters take on a life of their own taking me where they want to go as much as the other way around. It takes a leap of faith and great trust to do this and probably a little insanity. But I’ve never been able to outline a book in detail on paper and then write to that – it doesn’t work for me even though it does for many other writers. When I write to a plan, that story doesn’t breathe and expand and contract the way life does.
What inspired you to write The Orange Moon Affair? It was an opportunity to draw on my father’s life as an MI6 operative, what I knew about the intelligence community, my own experiences of special forces and being in the army, and my intense interest in how power can corrupt even those we would least expect. I got the idea for the book many years ago from scandalous events surrounding the Delorean Car Company and dealings between America and the British government. My editor at the time thought my story too fantastical for it to be believable and had to eat his words when the scandal broke and was all over the news. He admitted he should have trusted my writer instincts and published it. It’s taken me many years to get back to it but I finally rewrote it recently and I know it’s so much better than it was back then as I have grown so much as a writer with 6 other books under my belt before this one.
I felt inspired to write a thriller series where I can develop the character of Thomas Gunn through many different situations and life events – it’s a huge challenge but one I relish. And I also just wanted to build a fascinating story with layers upon layers of intrigue that keeps readers enthralled and guessing to the very end!
How did you come up with the title? I have to be honest and say that titles of my books just come to me and I rarely change them once I decide on them – they determine the context within which I write and what flows onto the page. I guess I just have a weird mind that works in mysterious ways!
Can you tell us about your main character? Thomas Gunn is ex-British Special Forces who would like nothing more than to forget his past life and the person he had to become while serving in the army. But the murder of his billionaire father drags him back to his old life of international intrigue and danger and he knows that to solve the puzzle of his father’s death he has to become the very person he had hoped to leave behind. But that causes much conflict within him and it’s as if he searches for a new way of being in the world, integrating the past and present versions of himself and who he would imagine himself to be in the future. He is man who can kill without second thought and yet with a huge heart and deep love for his girlfriend Julie who ends up being his most loyal ally and who helps him through his most difficult times.
The Orange Moon Affair - by the bestselling author of CONTACT - is the first book of a compelling new thriller series, an action-packed conspiracy with a hero and heroine you hold your breath for. If you enjoy the action of Robert Ludlum, the intensity of Brad Thor and the international intrigue of Daniel Silva, then this book’s for you!
Ex-British Special Forces soldier Thomas Gunn is drawn back into his old life of international intrigue and danger following the murder of his billionaire father. The deeper he digs the more complicated the puzzle becomes until he finds himself working for MI5 uncovering a global conspiracy that puts the freedom of the western world at grave risk. His girlfriend Julie becomes his accomplice surprising him with her loyalty, strength of character and physical prowess.
While traversing the globe being shot at, shot down and losing loved ones – a haunting question tears at his soul – was his father really at the heart of this evil conspiracy? Or was he a pawn in a larger more insidious game that even he could not control?
Seeking the final answer could cost Thomas dearly, ripping from him all that he most loves and cherishes and leaving him questioning his past, his future and what kind of person he is or wants to become. The final outcome depends on him. Or does it?
As a former Captain of Britain’s elite Parachute Regiment and son of an MI6 operative the author brings his own unique and eye-opening experiences to the character and exploits of Thomas Gunn, as well as an unsettling blurring of the lines between fiction and reality when exploring the ruthless abuse of power and position for personal gain.
“… The Orange Moon Affair is timely, eye-opening, fast-paced … you will find you want to turn the next page, and the next page, and the next … the first of the Thomas Gunn series … you don’t want to miss them!” 5 Stars, Remy Benoit.
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Genre – Thriller
Rating – PG13
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