From my desk to yours

Congratulations to Ali Steed on winning the thriller category in the Best Indie Book Awards 2024.

The annual Best Indie Book Award is an international literary award contest recognizing outstanding achievement by independent authors. Entries are limited to independently (indie) published books, including those from small presses, e-book publishers, and self-published authors.

I get to work with authors from all sorts of backgrounds, but some of my favourite writers to work with are screenwriters. They always have such a strong grip on what makes a great story.

Of course, scriptwriting is very different to novel writing, so our focus is often on making sure that the writing works for the page, as opposed to the big screen, but you’re always guaranteed a rip-roaring adventure.

However, a scriptwriter who nailed novel writing from the start of our time together has been T.D. Donnelly. His debut Year of the Rabbit, was a pleasure to work on and pitches the reader into the explosive world of trained assassins and vigilante justice. With impressive writing credits in Hollywood, such as Sahara and Marvel’s Doctor Strange, it’s no surprise that Tom weaves a brilliant story, and with a protagonist as unique as Malcolm Chaucer, this is the start of the next must-read thriller series!

Tom was kind enough to take some time to answer my burning questions about what’s it been like writing his debut novel and making the transition from screen to page.

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I’m delighted to announce that I’ll be appearing at Budleigh Salterton Literary Festival on 18th September 2024, alongside Sunday Times bestselling novelist Jennie Godfrey.

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🥳📚I worked with Simon a couple of years ago on the early draft of his debut thriller ZERO RI$K and I was immediately grabbed by just how terrifyingly plausible the concept of most sophisticated cyber attack in history causing complete meltdown across the world is. Financial thrillers may have the reputation of being a bit dry, but this debut is anything but: strong characterisation, pacy plotting, and action scenes that have you gripped matched against a race against time that will have readers glued to the page.

Simon was kind enough to sit down and chat to me about his early influences, how important biscuits are to the writing process and how the idea for the book came about. And if that wasn’t enough, be sure to scroll down for a sneak peak!

🥳📚Happy publication to Against The Tide, the debut novel by Robert Sherwood.

It’s safe to say that I work on many books a year, and all of my authors have their strengths and weakness, and that’s why we work together to make their manuscripts the best they can be. But it’s very rare that I come across a manuscript that I was excited about as when Robert Sherwood first approached me a few years ago.

Robert Sherwood’s debut is packed full with everything you could want from an action thriller: evocative scenery, pulse-racing action plays, tense stand-offs, daring but emotional characters, twists at every turn, and a witty and pacy narrative. Lovers of Lee Child and Robert Ludlum are going fall head-over-heels for this series, with protagonists that really get under your skin and that you can’t help but root for, perfectly matched against deliciously complex adversaries.

The thing is, Robert is far too humble to say such things, so I decided to do it for him, and with much persuasion, he was brave enough to answer some burning questions. So after you’ve grabbed your copy of Against the Tide be sure to scroll down to read an exclusive interview with the author!

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