Richard Dee is a sci-fi and streampunk writer, and WWBB has
been lucky enough to pin him down for an interview about himself and his book: Andorra Pett and the Oort Cloud Café.
So, without further ado, grab a coffee, relax
and read on…
Writers
always have unfinished files, handwritten or typescripts hidden somewhere
(usually under beds!) How many unpublished books do you have tucked away?
Last time I looked under my bed, there
were three completed novels, about five halfway
written and a bunch of short stories. There were also some socks, a lot of dust
and fluff and a suitcase with a broken handle.The bit in the middle, when the story is still developing as you write it. At this point, I’m never sure if it will just fizzle out and become a short story or go on to be the start of a series.
I think most writers can relate to that! So, how long does take you to write a novel?
It took me thirty years to write the first one! I wrote the short story that became Freefall in 1979 and completed it in 2012. I guess you could say that life got in the way. I have speeded up a little since then. Now, I write 2 or 3,000 words a day, so a first draft will take…, hang on while I get my socks off. Longer probably, because I’m always jumping around from project to project.
Seriously, about four months. Andorra Pett was my fifth novel of seven
so far and a bit of a departure, the others are Space Opera (Freefall, Myra, Ribbonworld and Jungle Green) and Steampunk (The Rocks of Aserol and A New Life in Ventis).
Andorra
Pett and the Oort Cloud Café
is the start of what I hope will be a series, Andorra has grown on me as a
character and I can see her having lots of adventures.
How
do you juggle a writing schedule?
I’ve retired from my ‘proper’ job, but I
had to get up early for it and it became a habit. I still get up early and
write for an hour or so, then my wife and I have the rest of the day to do what
we want. I might do a bit more in the evening. I carry a notebook so if I see or
hear an interesting situation during the day I can jot it down for future
reference. But you must be careful, being spotted can be embarrassing!
Who
do you aspire to be like as an author?
I grew up reading Isaac Asimov, Rad
Bradbury and Phillip K. Dick. They had a gift, a way of describing a universe
in three sentences. I’m not a big fan of pages and pages of flowery description;
I’d rather get straight to the action and keep it coming. I try and give the
reader a reason to turn over on every page.
Do
you set yourself goals when you sit down to write such as word count?
I just want to know what happens next, my
writing process is like watching a film in my head and typing what I see. I can
rewind, pause and slow it down but I can’t fast forward. Every time I start I must
keep going until I get to a good bit.
Sometimes that can be after 1,000 words, sometimes 5,000.
When
did you first call yourself a writer?
When I used my first royalties to buy
myself a celebratory drink. I think that once you’ve sold a book to someone you
don’t know and spent the money you can call yourself a writer.
Abso-bloody-lutely
When people ask, ‘what do you do for a living’ do you tell them you’re a writer
or do you buckle and say something else?
Now that I’ve retired from my real job, I
introduce myself as a writer at every opportunity. After all, it’s how I pass
my time, I might not make a fortune, but I do have an income from it.
Do you have a critique/editor partner?
I have a
team of wonderful beta readers scattered around the globe. They get a first
look at all my work and I really value the fact that they are prepared to tell
me if they think that its rubbish. And they do sometimes! Which also saves me
from bad reviews.
What’s
your talent for writing this book?
I can write female characters thanks to
my wife and three daughters, who taught me so much about the way that the
female mind works. I like to think that there’s a little of each of them in my
books, strong, loyal women who are resourceful and clever, as well as being
beautiful.
My wife was reading a book about someone who moved to the
country and opened a café on a beach and the story involved lost love and new
beginnings.
She challenged me to write something similar but in a sci-fi setting, and never one for refusing a challenge, I got stuck it. I wrote it as a short story first, but then my editor encouraged me to develop it, and the rest is history.
Tell
us about Andorra Pett, what’s her story?
It features a reluctant amateur detective
called Andorra Pett.
Written through her eyes, it’s a story of new beginnings in strange surroundings. She just wants a quiet life, but events conspire against her, as they so often do. As well as dealing with her new life, running a café on a space station and all that entails, there’s a mystery for her to solve. In the process, she discovers a lot about herself and the people around her. Mostly she finds that she’s quite clever, which is a surprise to her.
There’s a lot of friendship, some new romance and a murderer to catch.
Written through her eyes, it’s a story of new beginnings in strange surroundings. She just wants a quiet life, but events conspire against her, as they so often do. As well as dealing with her new life, running a café on a space station and all that entails, there’s a mystery for her to solve. In the process, she discovers a lot about herself and the people around her. Mostly she finds that she’s quite clever, which is a surprise to her.
There’s a lot of friendship, some new romance and a murderer to catch.
But basically, Andorra is a fish out of
water, a stranger in a strange land. It’s all about how she learns to thrive.
I’ve done my best to make
the characters familiar, I’ve just placed them in a different setting. I now
have ideas for another three sequels to Andorra
Pett and the Oort Cloud Café. The first of them, Andorra Pett on Mars, will be published in April 2018.
It has
a mixture of themes, doesn’t it?
Well, I gave the tale a crime element as
I thought that a space station would be the perfect place for a mystery—especially
as it was all a mystery to Andorra! It could also be called a comedy, although
there is plenty of drama in it, nothing too heavy or explicit. Mainly, I want it to be perceived as light-hearted entertainment hence the cartoon cover. I’ve tried to make it a story that’s suitable for all ages, from teen upwards.
Give
me the first, middle and end line in Andorra
Pett and the Oort Cloud Café
- “Is that it?”
- I opened the book, expecting chapter and verse on one man’s rampage through the female inhabitants of the station.
- Cy smiled, he had that look of contentment. “Mind your own!”
Does
Andorra change or learn by the end of the book?
As the story opens, Andorra is running
from a bad relationship. She thinks that it was all her fault and that what she
needs is to get away. So far so normal. Then I added the sci-fi twist by
setting the tale in the future and letting her run to the edge of the solar
system. She arrives on the space station intending to have a quiet life, events
conspire to make sure that it’s anything but.
As the story unfolds she learns a lot
about herself and changes her opinion. Her friend Cy, who has stuck with her,
always knew that she was so much more than she realised. Wisely, he lets her find
out for herself.
As I said before, I don’t plot my novels
in advance. I had to write the book to find out who the villain was. Right up
to the end, it could have been one of several. When I found out, it was as much
of a shock to me as I hope it will be to the reader. And the way they were
unmasked proved to Andorra that she was as clever as other’s thought she was.
Who would be your dream cast if Andorra Pett and the Oort Cloud Café
was made into a movie?
Someone
like Miranda Hart’s sidekick Stevie (a character in the BBC TV show Miranda) would be a perfect Andorra. In
case you’re not sure who I mean, Stevie is played to perfection by the
excellent Sarah Hadland (if you’re reading this Sarah, tell your agent
immediately!).
Sounds like Miranda Hart could play Andorra!
A sexier
and younger version of her maybe!
You mentioned Andorra’s wingman, Cy. Who’d play
him?
Ah, the late
Alan Rickman would have been the perfect foil for her as Cy, with his dry wit
and superb comic timing.
What about the villains in the book? All books
need a baddie!
Indeed
they do! I need a villain who isn’t on the face of it, but has a sort of
undercurrent. The person who’d play them needs to be outwardly normal but with
a mysterious side, which could be good or bad. Helena Bonham Carter or Matthew Macfadyen would be a possible fit.
Would they audition, do you think?
If
Andorra was one of your friends, what advice would you give her?
You can do whatever you want, as long as
you try hard you will never fail
Good
advice, and would she make the cut as a bestie?
Definitely, she’s loyal, amusing and actually
very smart. She also has a talent for putting herself down and breaking things
in an embarrassing way. I’d have to check with the wife first though.
Hit
me with the most shocking one-liner from Andorra
Pett and the Oort Cloud Café?
Possibly… ‘My God, he was hoping to shag
his way out of this!’
Introducing...
Andorra Pett and the Oort Cloud Café
Meet Andorra Pett; with her trusty sidekick, she’s
taken over a derelict café. On a mining station. It just happens to be orbiting
Saturn!
She’s hoping for a fresh start, away from all the drama of her old life. It’s a chance to relax and start again in a place where nobody knows anything about her or her past.
But the café holds a secret, and secrets have a
habit of coming out; whether you want them to or not. And being accident prone
doesn’t help. The more you try to pretend that you know what’s going on, the
worse it gets.
Andorra’s plans for peace and quiet get lost amid the revelations and skulduggery and she soon realises that the fate of the whole station lies in her hapless hands.
In space, you can still trip over your feet; the question is, will you land upright?
A native of Brixham in Devon, Richard Dee's family left Devon when he was in his teens and settled in Kent. Leaving school at 16 he briefly worked in a supermarket, then went to sea and travelled the world in the Merchant Navy, qualifying as a Master Mariner in 1986. Coming ashore to be with his growing family, he used his sea-going knowledge in several jobs, including Marine Insurance Surveyor and Dockmaster at Tilbury, before becoming a Port Control Officer in Sheerness and then at the Thames Barrier in Woolwich.
In 1994 he was head-hunted and offered a job as a Thames Estuary Pilot. In 1999 he transferred to the Thames River Pilots, where he regularly took vessels of all sizes through the Thames Barrier and upriver as far as H.M.S. Belfast and through Tower Bridge.
In all, he piloted over 3,500 vessels in a 22-year career with the Port of London Authority. Richard was offered part time working in 2010, which allowed him to return to live in Brixham, where he took up writing and blogging.
He retired in 2015, when he set up and ran a successful Organic bakery, supplying local shops and cafés. The urge to write eventually overtook the urge to bake but Richard still makes bread for friends and family. Richard is married with three adult children and two grandchildren.
Click for an excerpt below:
Chapter 1
“Is that it?”
The entrance was
in partial darkness, the alleyway behind me dimly lit with flickering tubes. My
heels had clicked on the floor as I passed small piles of rubbish and stained
brick-effect cladding. The heels didn’t really work here but I was out of my
depth and struggling to catch up. Same as the clothes, my designer suit was a
little out of place in this riot of grey.
It was a splash of colour in a drab
working world.
“People don’t
come down here much,” explained my guide, the rental agent for the place I
wanted to see. I’d forgotten his name and instead thought of him as Mr Greasy. It suited him, his hair was greasy,
as were his clothes; even his smile was up there on the grease-o-meter. He
probably thought of himself as a ladies man, I know we were out on the fringes
but surely not? Maybe a desperate ladies man but I wasn’t desperate. At least,
not that desperate. Not yet.
Mr Greasy was still talking. “No-one comes down
here much since the new diner opened up.”
I knew where he
meant; we had passed it on the way here, next to a pharmacy and a few other
shops. The diner looked new, all gleaming chrome and fresh baked aroma. The
barista was archetypal, white teeth and blonde hair, a role model for Mr G. Maybe someone would tell him.
He opened the
control box and pressed a few buttons on a keypad. The steel security curtain
rolled up to reveal a wide window and a door at the side. Faded lettering
proclaimed that this was the ‘ucky Strike Bar and Grill’. The ‘L’ had fallen
off; there was the faint outline of where it had been. As the mesh rose, dust
fell from the links; the place must have been shut for a while.
“What happened
to the last owner?”
“There was a
change in the law, no booze allowed any more.
It kind of stopped him in his tracks. He gave up and walked away, owes me a
month’s rent too,” said Mr G as he opened
the door, this one had a combination lock. He flicked the light switch; dim red
lighting came on, just enough to see tables, chairs
and a bar. Everything was covered in dust, there were dirty glasses on the
tables and the overhead video screens were blank and cobwebbed. That meant
spiders, space spiders! I shuddered, I don’t like spiders.
“The kitchen is
out back, together with stores and living space,” continued the sales patter,
“a nice master bedroom, en suite.” He leered, “Plenty of room for a little lady
like yourself. I’ll show you.”
“Take your word
for it,” I answered, not wanting to be in a confined space with him; his breath
was probably greasy and, well, I didn’t want to know about his hands. “Are the
fittings and stock all included?”
“All the
alcohol’s been impounded but everything that’s here is yours for two hundred a
month, one month up front.” I had a sudden feeling, like this place was where I
was meant to be.
“I’ll take it.”
OK, so it wasn’t ideal but to be honest, I was fed up with running. I’d ignored
my feelings before and look where that had got me. I might even grow to like
the place. Besides, there wasn’t anywhere further to run. We were on the edge
of civilisation.
“What you gonna
do with it? You can’t open it as a bar and we’ve already got a diner.” It was a
fair question, I didn’t really know but I wasn’t going to tell him that.
He moved closer.
“Let’s seal the deal then,” he suggested, with a wink.
One of the
advantages of being a short shrimp, as my mother used to say, was that you
didn’t have to reach down too far to do a man serious damage. I was just
contemplating that when he was saved by the arrival of Cy, my friend and
business partner, dragging a trolley full of luggage.
“You lost me,
Andi,” he puffed. “It’s bloody dark down here, is this it?”
Greasy backed
off; Cy was larger and less greasy than him. He didn’t know but Cy had no
interest in me in that sort of way. Dave was the love of his life, he had left
him to look after me, and that made me feel alternately good and bad, they had
seemed as happy together as Trevor and I had.
“He’ll wait,” Cy
had explained on the trip out. “And if he doesn’t then I can cry into my
cappuccino for a while and move on.”
“Pay the man,
Cy.” I had decided. “Four hundred and let’s get the gingham bunting out.”
Greasy shook his
head. “Gingham! What the hell are you going to do to the place?”
“Maybe the diner
needs a little competition,” I ventured; this brought a smirk and a shake of
the head.
“Mr Munro won’t
like it.”
“Mr Munro can
lump it. Shall I tell him or will you?”
He was saved
from having to answer by the sight of the money in Cy’s hand. He took the notes,
counted them and walked away, chuckling in a greasy sort of way. “I’ll give you
a month,” he shouted over his shoulder. I thought that wasn’t too much of an
endorsement, considering I’d paid for a month. Or maybe that was what he meant.
“You’re not serious
are you?” said Cy as I walked around the tables to the far wall. “We can’t run
a café.”
I stopped and
turned back to him.
“Why not, Cy?
It’s perfect; remember what that bloke said on the shuttle. There’s only one
other place selling leisure here, all we have to do is pretend it’s the shop in
London, just coffee and cake instead of clothes.”
“Can you bake
cakes, Andi?” He had a point; he’d tried my sandwiches once. He reckoned that I
wouldn’t be able to do toast without a recipe and a video. I’d show him.
“Yes,” I said
with confidence, and then I thought about it, “No… sort of; how hard can it
be?” My mum had taught me and she’d never killed anyone.
I turned back
and continued to the end wall. I had thought the place was dark, I was about to
find out if I could make it lighter.
I had spotted
the control for the picture windows all along one wall, reaching over the
stained bench seats I grabbed it and turned it. The switch was sticky and
resisted but in the end it rotated and with a whir the view was revealed as the
shutters went up.
Saturn’s rings
in all their glory filled the room with reflected light, the space opened out
and the room became more than just a derelict and unloved bar. Even an ‘ucky’
one.
This was now my
café, and I was going to make it work. I’d even thought of a name. And Cy was
going to help me.
“Welcome to the
Oort Cloud Café, Cy.”
He shook his
head. “I just hope you know what you’re doing.”
~~~~
It’s about time
I introduced myself, I’m Andorra Pett, my friends all call me Andi. I’m short
and feisty with a few curves and a mess of dark hair. I used to run a vintage
clothes shop back on Earth when I was young and still believed in happy ever
after. Then there was Trevor, he said I was the love of his life, I believed
him too, right up to the moment that I caught him with my soon-to-be-ex best
friend Masie. Then I knew it was time to change everything. I raided the
accounts, took the money and ran. That was a bit out of character for me, I
wasn’t a space hound or even the flying to Spain type.
But, I thought,
it’s time to get over it and DO something. Cy, short for Cyril – and don’t
laugh – caught up with me and tried to stop me at the port but he ended up
coming with me. He said he was looking out for me but I reckoned he wanted a
break, the same as I did. Why else would he try to stop me with a suitcase of
his own? Cy was my assistant from the shop, a genius with a sewing machine and
my confidant. Plus he tended to bail me out when my mouth got me into trouble.
“Won’t you miss
Dave?” I asked as we boarded the shuttle up to the orbiting ship, ahead was
Mars, then here.
“Maybe,” Cy
answered. “But then I’ve always wanted adventure. Keeping you safe should
guarantee me that.”
You can find Andorra Pett and the Oort Cloud Café via
this universal link
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