🗡If you like nothing better than to lose yourself in an epic fantasy, this should certainly tick all your boxes! #epic #fantasy #books

Vengeance of Hope:

Can freedom ever be for all?

by 

P.J. Berman

Can freedom ever be for all? How do you save a nation from tyranny?

When the King of Bennvika dies in suspicious circumstances and a foreign usurper named Jostan Kazabrus seizes the throne, ruthlessly imposing his will on the population, a disunited triumvirate of leaders and their followers must attempt to resist him.

The first is Silrith, the ousted philanthropic Princess who had been expected to take the throne. The second is Ezrina, a vengeful rebel who is desperate to overturn the years of ethnic oppression of her people, the Hentani. The third is Zethun, a minor noble who believes the only way to fight for the common people is to abolish the monarchy altogether.

As the various factions fight the threat of tyranny and religious persecution, each must be prepared to make the ultimate sacrifice for their cause.

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A sassy author interview, prizes, a fab book... what more do you want! .@jennifermacaire .@rararesources #historical #timetravel #funbooks

Jennifer Macaire is a brave author who has agreed to be interviewed in a style that many authors shy away from—derogatory. The sassier the answers to WWBB’s rude questioning method the better!

So welcome, Jennifer, and let’s get the ball rolling, shall we? In your book, the protagonist, Ashley Riveraine (what kind of name is that, Jeeze!), gets pitched back in time some 300 years BC (before chocolate) and meets Alexander the Great—her hero.

Hero? Oh, come on! Okay, I’ll go with it for now. So, is Ashley Riveraine happy now their story has been told or is there more to come (God help us!)?

The funny thing is, this was going to be a short story. I started out as a journalist writing articles for magazines, and at the same time, I wrote a few short stories and published them. One was nominated for the Push Cart Prize, and I'm afraid it went straight to my head.

I set about writing a short story about Alexander the Great not dying and going on to conquer the world (you see how things can get out of hand – one mosquito gets squashed, and we're speaking Greek instead of English and the Romans never got to build their straight roads anywhere. Much less paperwork too, and we'd still be offering sacrifices to Zeus.

We could always offer this book!

We could, but as my neighbour’s rooster wakes me up every morning at the ass-crack of dawn… anyhow, I was going to send The Road to Alexander to a Sci-fi magazine as a time travel tale and things got out of hand.

I didn't realize Alexander would kidnap Ashley – I forgot how omnipresent gods and goddesses were at that time. And I didn't realize how crazy Alexander's mother was, and, to make a long story short, there are 7 books in the series.

Seven! Jeeze… you get less for murder! Okay, so give me the best one-liner from your poor excuse of a book.  

I realized I was now over three-thousand years older than my own mother.

Do I have to elaborate?

Please don’t.

The instructions say a 'one-liner', so to go on and explain would be a clear indication of my inability to follow the simplest instructions, which is why I did so badly at school, and why my husband has given up trying to tell me what to do…)

Yawn, so basically, you're the same as all the rest of the authors on Amazon, and you’re the Next Best Thing. I don’t think so. Come on, tell me why I should spend time reading YOUR book over more well-received authors?

Oh, come on – who likes best sellers, I mean, besides the teeming masses. But you know the teeming masses yearning to be free – it says so on the Statue of Liberty (written in Gothic Script somewhere around her big toe, I think). So, feel free to try something different – the hero and heroine don't hate each other on sight! The hero is Alexander the Great, and how much more heroic can you get? There is action and adventure! It's based on real history (at least part of it is – it's time-travel, so there is a slight wobble in reality. Be prepared!).

It’s a mad, tongue-in-cheek romp across mixed genres of Sci-fi, romance, adventure, and history. It’ll make you laugh and cry. Oh, and there's lots of hot, bouncy sex. (If you like that sort of thing. Otherwise, just skip those parts!) But most of all, just relax, sit back, and enjoy your trip back in time. You can always close the book and come back to the present – but Ashley is stuck in the past!

Hang on, there, lady. Bouncy sex? Sex that’s bouncy? I may just have to read this malarkey of a book! So, spill, as an author have you ever regretted anything, i.e. written your own review (or written a bad review on a competitor's novel), argued online, copied someone else's idea? Any juicy naughtiness at all?

Mark Twain once said, ‘The kernel, the soul, let us go further and say the substance, the bulk, the actual and valuable material of all human utterances is plagiarism.’

In a way, he was correct. We, the people of the present, are standing on the shoulders of those who went before us. Our stories, our art, our science – it’s all based on work that our ancestors did. We simply keep it growing, expanding on it – but we invent nothing brand new. (And stop screaming, ‘The Internet!’ that's just another way of communicating, and there are more ways of doing that than stars in the sky… I exaggerate, but you get my gist).

I wrote The Road to Alexander after falling in love with ‘Outlander’, so the time travel element was copied from the fantastic Ms Gabaldon. She may have gotten it from H.G. Wells – who in turn, got it from somewhere else.

Time is an interesting subject. I'd like to say I was the only one who ever wrote about Alexander the Great, but Mary Renault did a fabulous job with her series of historical fiction novels – if you haven't read them, you've missed a rare treat.

As for arguing or regretting, or writing bad reviews, I've only written two bad reviews, and both were for novels that featured super-alpha-male-control-freaks, and I'm a staunch feminist. 

I have argued online, but that was then. Nowadays I just refer people to PubMed (peer-reviewed scientific publications) or Snopes and let them learn for themselves. I never wrote my own review, but I encouraged my daughter to read one of my children's books and write her own review. It was awful, but this proud mama didn't mind – I fixed up the spelling, changed a few words (terrible to great, boring to amazing,) and had it published…. well, not really, but it's an idea. Probably not an original idea – those are all taken!

Describe your writing style in ten words or less. I’ll begin with the first two: Crap, dull…

Pedantic springs to mind. That's what my editor kept saying. ‘Jennifer, you're being pedantic again. No one needs to know where the army's food came from, just tell them what they ate and be quick about it.’ Or, ‘Jennifer, three pages on oral hygiene in ancient times is going to put readers to sleep. I barely got through it without dozing off. Scratch that. I dozed off twice.’

Otherwise, my style has been variously described as fluid, engaging, easy-to-read (not my fault – my editor keeps correcting my spelling and grammar!), and one reviewer—who said the book had way to too much sex in it—admitted it was 'well-crafted and proficient'. Hmm. Was he talking about my writing or about the sex scenes?

Fuck knows! He certainly wasn’t my husband! All right, just for a laugh, share with us one of the WORSE reviews you’ve had.

I’ve had so many – where to begin? Let's see – one said (1 star): ‘Why, oh why must the 'heroine' of these sort of time travel books be so smug, so captivating to their target and so unreal. No-one in their right mind is like this. Go away Ms Macaire, and think real. I suppose I have been spoiled by Diana Gabaldon whose heroine at least shows some reticence towards the hero or Jodie Taylor who is constantly amusing and deep by turns.’

 I like this review on so many levels – it perfectly describes Ashley, who arrives from the future feeling smug and superior to the ancients (Pride goeth before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall, Ashley!). It compares the book to Outlander and the St Mary's series, both of which I adore – (thank you, terrible review, for at least hitching my book to their star for a brief instant before you demolished it).

It is confusing in that it acknowledges the book as being time travel, then beseeches me to 'get real'. That's where I'm not sure if she doesn't like the alacrity Ashley and Alexander (trying to think of another word starting with 'A' and failing here…) fell in love, or was it the improbability of Ashley being a real person?

At any rate, I enjoyed having my book in the same paragraph as my two favourite writers! (There are other, more brutal reviews, but they actually had more stars, so the readers must have liked the cover art or something.)

What qualifications do you have for writing in your genre? (Apart from waking up in the morning, that is).

I was afraid someone would ask me this one day. Can I take the fifth? No? Well, #1: The book is science fiction (I love science and work with scientists as an information researcher – I know, it doesn't count, sorry!) with a #2: time travel element (I have the worst case of left/right, before/after, letters, and numbers, dyslexia. So time has no meaning for me. It's a miracle every time I show up at work or to an appointment. #3: It's in English (I was born in the USA and grew up in the Caribbean, which accounts for that part, anyway). #4: It's set in Ancient Greece, and my mother is a history teacher. She gave me lots of hints about where to look for information on Alexander the Great. No, she didn't help me – how many of your teachers wrote your assignments?

Many authors use their qualifications to show off their so-called talents, i.e. crime writers are often coppers (or police, for the non-Brits present) and the book becomes boringly technical. How have you managed to keep your knowledge low key? Or haven’t you bothered?

When I was a kid, I was skinny, had glasses, big teeth, and was dyslexic. I was also clumsy because my glasses didn't correct my huge astigmatism, which meant I could not catch a ball, no matter how gently it was tossed to me.

I was the last to be chosen in gym for the teams, and, on one sad Valentine's day, at a party, the boy I had a gigantic crush on threw chocolate kisses at me, telling me I could only keep the ones I caught. I caught none.

Sobbing, I went into the house, collided with his father, and made him drop his finest bottle of wine that he'd been keeping for a special occasion. I stared at the mess, listening to the howls of rage, wishing I could become invisible or at least grow some sort of backbone and stop snivelling (I was nine years old at this time, so excuse the melodrama).

At dinner, the grown-ups drank their not-so-nice wine and glared at me. The other kids snickered. And I decided I'd show them – I'd become so knowledgeable about dinosaurs I'd write and illustrate a fabulous book, and they would come begging for an autograph. This has nothing to do with the question – or everything, depending on how you look at it. I'm actually quite knowledgeable about dinosaurs but have managed to keep all that info out of my books.

Sorry, I asked! Jeeze… whinge, whinge, whinge, me, me, me… If your book disappeared forever, do you think it’ll be missed?

Honestly? No, I don't think it will be missed at all unless you've somehow time-travelled to read all the series and missed the first one and decided you had to read from the beginning. Then it might be missed. Maybe. I'm not sure anything on this earth is irreplaceable except maybe chocolate. I would definitely miss that. And coffee.

Don’t forget the wine. Not expensive wine, obviously, as you drop that! Describe your perfect death (in case I must kill you. Touch my wine and I will!)

Need you ask? Death by chocolate – of course!

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and now...

The Road to Alexander

by

Jennifer Macaire

What do you do when the past becomes your future?

The year is 2089, and time-travelling journalist Ashley Riveraine gets a once in a lifetime opportunity to interview her childhood hero, Alexander the Great. She expects to come out with an award-winning article, but doesn’t count on Fate intervening.

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Alexander mistakes Ashley for Persephone, goddess of the dead, and kidnaps her, stranding her in his own time. Being stuck 3000 years in the past with the man of her dreams wouldn’t be so bad if the scientists of the Time Institute hadn’t threatened to erase Ashley from existence if she changes history.

Ashley must now walk a tightrope, caught up in the cataclysmic events of the time, knowing what the future holds for the people she comes to love but powerless to do anything to influence it.

Join Ashley on her hilarious, bumpy journey into the past as she discovers where her place in history truly is…

Jennifer Macaire is an American living in Paris. She likes to read, eat chocolate, and plays a mean game of golf. She grew up in upstate New York, Samoa, and the Virgin Islands. 

She graduated from St Peter and Paul High School in St Thomas and moved to NYC where she modelled for five years for Elite. 

She went to France and met her husband at the polo club. All that is true. But she mostly likes to make up stories

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If time-travel is your bag then check out this fabulous #YA novel, plus on WWBB, the author's main character is interviewed, and WIN a prize! So much to check out! #books #kidslit #timetravel @tyrannopaulus @rararesources

The Lights of Time

Engella Rhys is alone, adrift and on the run. Pursued by a secret agency, known only as the Hunters, she must stay ahead to stay alive.

As she travels through space-time using dangerously experimental technology, she only has one wish: to be reunited with her lost parents. After a close shave with a Hunter on the streets of New Shanghai, Engella escapes to find herself on a deserted beach. When she meets a kind stranger, who offers her food and shelter, Engella feels safe and protected for the first time in years.

But who is this woman? And why did their paths cross at the most convenient of times?

Engella soon discovers their lives are intertwined in more ways than she could ever imagine.

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Character Interview

with 

Engella Rhys

from the book

The Lights of Time

(The Chronicles of Engella Rhys Book 1)

Who is the protagonist from The Lights of Time?

Introducing Engella Rhys, the protagonist from The Lights of Time. Engella was born in London UK in the mid-21^st century and is seventeen years old. She is the daughter of Dr Evan Rhys and Dr May Nakamura, but they were separated during a Hunter attack many years ago. Engella has lived alone ever since. She is on the run, shifting through space-time every few days, weeks or months. She has been searching for her parents ever since.

Engella was a happy child and felt safe and secure, until the day her parents took her away from home; after the Hunters’ first attack. The family moved around a lot, shifting from place to place and time period to time period. It was not all bad – she remembers one day in particular: visiting the beach with her parents, making sandcastles and eating ice cream. One of her favourite memories is watching holo-movies with her Papa. But all Engella has ever known is running from the Hunters, until one day she receives a message, which she believes is from her father. She was living on the streets of New Shanghai at the time and was trying to find out more about the message when the Hunters attack again.

What are her likes/dislikes?

Engella loves shifting to a mountaintop where she watches the sunrise or sunset. She feels at peace and can forget about her life on the run from the Hunters. She also loves to eat desserts. She doesn't get to eat them often, but can’t resist a piece of apple pie covered in custard. Her favourite pass times include playing retro computer games and wearing retro clothes from the 1980s, 1990s and early 2000s. She often uses holo-technology to try out different garments from these historical periods.

Engella can’t stand nosiness; she gets irritated when asked a lot of questions by strangers, like when she meets Eddie Reyes. Engella only hates one thing – the Hunters. She doesn’t understand why they were after her family and wishes she could live a normal life.

What is Engella’s primary goal in life?

Engella’s main goal is to find out what happened to her parents. She won’t stop until she finds them.

How does she see herself?

Engella probably doesn’t see herself like others see her. Her years on the run have affected her greatly, knocking her confidence. She just wants to live a normal life and settle down somewhere quiet. But Engella doesn’t yet realise how strong she really is. 

But how do others see her?

The other main characters see Engella as a strong and confident leader. With time, Engella starts to see how others see her and she grows in strength and confidence as a result.

Sounds brilliant! Thank you, Paul, for sharing.

Paul Ian Cross is a multi-award-winning children’s author and scientist from London, UK.  

Paul works in clinical research (developing new medicines), and he’s also involved in science communication; presenting science to non-scientists. He enjoys his science career, but he also has a real passion for writing stories! He likes introducing children to the wonders of science, especially reluctant readers. By introducing science creatively, he aims to spark their interest; allowing them to gain confidence in their reading. As a previous reluctant reader himself, he understands how hard it can be. But it’s all about making reading fun and interesting!

Paul’s nephew Hayden influenced his decision to become a writer. He loved seeing Hayden’s reaction when his sister Michelle first read one of Paul’s stories to him! In his spare time, Paul likes to visit new and exciting places. One of his favourite places is Scotland, especially the Isle of Skye.

Paul’s debut picture book, Praxx and the Ringing Robot, won second prize in the ‘Picture Books 5 and Younger’ category at the Purple Dragonfly Book Awards 2017. The book trailer also won first place in the ‘book trailer’ category at the Royal Dragonfly Book Awards later that year.

Paul’s second book, Planet Scrabbage and the Vegerons, won an honourable mention in both the ‘Picture Books 6 and Over’ and ‘Health’ categories at the Purple Dragonfly Book Awards 2018.

And that brings us to now... Paul is currently working on several new books. Paul’s debut upper middle-grade novel will be published in 2018. The Lights of Time is the first novel in a brand-new series: The Chronicles of Engella Rhys.

Paul hopes you enjoy reading his stories as much as he enjoyed writing them!

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Win a Kindle HD Fire 7” and a signed copy of The Lights of Time (UK Only)

*Terms and Conditions –UK entries welcome.  Please enter using the Rafflecopter box below.  The winner will be selected at random via Rafflecopter from all valid entries and will be notified by Twitter and/or email. If no response is received within 7 days, then I reserve the right to select an alternative winner. Open to all entrants aged 18 or over.  Any personal data given as part of the competition entry is used for this purpose only and will not be shared with third parties, with the exception of the winners’ information. This will be passed to the giveaway organiser and used only for the fulfilment of the prize, after which time I will delete the data.  I am not responsible for despatch or delivery of the prize.

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A fantastic sci-fi fantasy for your reading pile! @rararesources #fantasy #syfy #scifi @bg_writes_stuff #win #book #giveaway

Introducing…

The Gathering

The Uprising Series tells the story of three freedom fighters and their friends in high — and low — places that come together to overthrow a vainglorious Emperor and his militaristic Cabal to restore the city, and the way of life, they once knew and loved.

In The Gathering, Jamie Ryan has defected from the Cabal and has joined his former brothers-in-arms — Basile Perrinault and Kanoa Shinomura — to form a collective known as The Uprising.

When an explosion leads to him crossing paths with Evanora Cunningham — a product of Jamie’s past — he discovers that The Uprising is bigger, and more important, than he thought.

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Giveaway – Win a paperback copy of The Gathering (Open Internationally)

*Terms and Conditions –Worldwide entries welcome. Winner will be asked if they prefer a paperback or a digital copy.  Please enter using the Rafflecopter box below.  The winner will be selected at random via Rafflecopter from all valid entries and will be notified by Twitter and/or email. If no response is received within 7 days then I reserve the right to select an alternative winner. Open to all entrants aged 18 or over.  Any personal data given as part of the competition entry is used for this purpose only and will not be shared with third parties, with the exception of the winners’ information. This will passed to the giveaway organiser and used only for fulfilment of the prize, after which time I will delete the data.  I am not responsible for despatch or delivery of the prize.

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About the author of The Gathering:

With an impressive list of credentials earned over the course of two decades, Bernadette R. Giacomazzo is a multi-hyphenate in the truest sense of the word: an editor, writer, photographer, publicist, and digital marketing specialist who has demonstrated an uncanny ability to thrive in each industry with equal aplomb. Her work has been featured in Teen Vogue, People, Us Weekly, The Los Angeles Times, The New York Post, and many, many more. She served as the news editor of Go! NYC Magazine for nearly a decade, the executive editor of LatinTRENDS Magazine for five years, the eye candy editor of XXL Magazine for two years, and the editor-at-large at iOne/Zona de Sabor for two years. As a publicist, she has worked with the likes of Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson and his G-Unit record label, rapper Kool G. Rap, and various photographers, artists, and models. As a digital marketing specialist, Bernadette is Google Adwords certified, has an advanced knowledge of SEO, PPC, link-building, and other digital marketing techniques, and has worked for a variety of clients in the legal, medical, and real estate industries.

Based in New York City, Bernadette is the co-author of Swimming with Sharks: A Real World, How-To Guide to Success (and Failure) in the Business of Music (for the 21st Century), and the author of the forthcoming dystopian fiction series, The Uprising. She also contributed a story to the upcoming Beyonce Knowles tribute anthology, The King Bey Bible, which will be available in bookstores nationwide in the summer of 2018.

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FREE peek at Chapter ONE

Chapter One

Evanora

      I could hear him bloviating, again, from the balcony.

      It is entirely too early for this, you cocksucker, I thought, but I did not say as I jammed the pillow over my head and tried, desperately, to sleep.

      Of course, it was no use. It never was when this asshole started screaming at the top of his lungs at an ungodly hour of the morning. Every morning. For the past twenty some-odd years. Saying the same thing, at the same time, every day, without changing a single goddamn word.

      I know it by heart, by now.  I can say it in my sleep. And sometimes, I do. 

So, I did what I normally do in these situations: I pulled out my iPod, flicked the wheel, and stuffed the earbuds into my ears as I listened to Faust’s greatest hits. 

      Now this is the kind of caterwauling that I can get behind – the sacred, now-forbidden ritual of rock’n’roll.  

      I always thought Ivan Sapphire – real name, Jamie Ryan – was just so damn cute, though God only knows what he looked like now. If history teaches us anything, it’s that time isn’t kind to rock stars, especially if they regularly blast their body with drinking, drugs, and strange bodily fluids.

      It’d be a damn shame if that’s what happened to Jamie Ryan. 

      But there was one Faust member I wanted to know more about, but never could – and never would.

      Him.

      My father.

      Jordan Barker.

     

For this, I envied my mother, for she knew him well.

Too well, as it turns out, and I was the product of this unlawful carnal knowledge.

      

Rose Cunningham never talked about my father.

      All I knew of him was what I saw in the rare pictures I could find.

      He was tall. He was thin. He had strawberry blonde hair. He could play bass like no one before or since.  He had a pixie nose and almond shaped eyes – both of which I inherited. He loved my mother and me with the intensity of a thousand burning suns. He bore a pain inside him that could only be numbed with a regular shot of pure heroin to his veins. He died when I was still a baby.

      And that was the sum totality of all I knew.

      I was born Evanora Joy Diaz-Barker, and nicknamed the “First Faust Baby.” My birth heralded much comment amongst the rock glitterati in the old New York – I was the latest, greatest attraction to join the Faust three-ring circus (come one, come all, in more ways than one!), born to 21-year-old Jordan Barker, psycho bassist from Mars, and his consort of sorts, the 19-year-old Puerto-Rican-from-the-Bronx Ramira “Rosie” Diaz, a hip-hop B-girl and sometime dancer/choreographer who only happened upon a Faust show because her best friend, Angelique Denham, was the dearly beloved of one Ivan Sapphire/Jamie Ryan.

      Ramira loved to dance, and she did it well.

      I never saw Rose dance. Not even once.

Like #steampunk? Fancy a bit of #scifi? Then check out this author interview with .@RichardDockett1 #syfy #fiction .@rararesources

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.

What’s your least favourite part of the writing process?
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.

Why did you write Andorra Pett and the Oort Cloud Café? 

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.

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

1. “Is that it?”
2. I opened the book, expecting chapter and verse on one man’s rampage through the female inhabitants of the station.
3. 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.

Buy NOW!

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?

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About Richard Dee:
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.

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