Today I am delighted to welcome author, R O Neish to Books, Life and Everything to talk about his writing life and his latest novel, Fight or Flight, which was published on May 15th 2021.The first in the Davy Stuart Trilogy, it is an historical adventure novel with a maritime bias.Welcome to Books, Life and Everything, Ron.
Would you like to start by telling us a little about
yourself and how you started as a writer?
As a writer, I started out doing the history of the ships
built at the shipyard where I began my own working life. Not happy with what I
could find on this history I decided that I could do something better myself.
Having started with a Blog, then a website it was just a natural progression to
end up putting all this information into book form, as books cannot be hacked
the same as a website.
I love writing about the subject with both fiction and
non-fiction books being produced.
My fiction stories are just running around my head and have
been for a great many years.
What is your favorite childhood book?
The one I remember most was one given to me by my aunt and
uncle and it was a geography book about Europe & the U.S.S.R. full of maps
and information about each country ignoring the iron curtain that was in place
at the time, I credit that book with giving me my thirst for adventure and
travel.
Where were you when you heard your first book was going to
be published? How did you celebrate?
I was in a garden having a smoke it was freezing and dark,
my mobile opened and I saw the text, brilliant but no one around to tell, so
many different emotions flooded my wee brain, fantastic sense of achievement
and pride.
Tell us three
surprising things about yourself.
I have been sober for almost 23 years, I am an ex-smoker of
more than one year, so if I can do this then anyone can. I have worked on the
design of an experimental fusion machine now being built, I worked on this in
Japan, where I lived for a couple of years with my son who was 12 when he first
went out there with me.
Tell us about your
latest book without giving the plot away.
Davy Stuart
Fight or Flight
“It’s either black or white. There’s no in-between for Davy
Stuart.”
Fight or Flight is an historical adventure novel with a
maritime bias; the first in a trilogy.
Leith, Scotland, 1880. Davy Stuart is an apprentice
shipwright down in the docks. He’s from the poorest of the tenements and it’s a
tough existence. Davy spends his free time drinking and day-dreaming with his
pals.
He then wakes up wounded on a ship, told he has to flee from
home, his family and Scotland.
He is like a rudderless ship stumbling from one fight to
another, is his best friend really a friend or his worst enemy.
Davy travels on going from adventure to battle, never really
knowing who he really is, his encounter with Voodoo leaves him even more
confused.
His adventure takes him half way around the world, then he
lands in post-Civil war America, in the South with his Black Friend. He owes
his life to Sol.
As he continues his quest to find the woman he intends to
marry, things are never how they seem.
What are your writing routines and where do you do most of
your writing?
I don’t really have a routine I just write when I can in
between the day job and all the other requirements of life. When working on my
novels I have a selection of small note-books I carry around, jotting down
notes and ideas wherever I may be.
A lot of the first book was noted down in long hand on the
train travelling to work.
How do you go about
researching detail and ensuring your books are realistic?
I have many of my own resources in the form of books and
website with lots of the ship’s histories included. My stories all contain real
ships that had been built at Leith, in the shipyards there during the late
1800’s early 1900’s. For other history facts and such I use the internet.
How do you select the names of your characters? Are they
based on anyone you know?
Names and characters come from many resources, I have spent
a lifetime travelling, working and living all over the world, meeting so many
people some good and some not so good, so perhaps bits of people can make it
into some of the characters.
Are there any secret references hidden in your books?
Oh yes there are many!
Does writing energize or exhaust you?
Sometimes both
If you could tell
your younger writing self anything, what would it be?
Start writing earlier and don’t give a damn what other
people say.
Do you believe in
writer’s block? What do you do to break its spell?
I sometimes reach a block, I’m going through one right now
with my 3rd book. I don’t try and force anything, the story and plot will come
back to me when the time is right. I move on to other projects and books, never
get bogged down in one, it could destroy you, so put it aside and do something
else.
Do you have any unfinished or unpublished books hidden away?
I have a whole heap of books/ideas hidden away with a
spread-sheet list showing me which ones I should be looking at in any certain
order. There are no lack of stories, many of them are for me to decide if a
whole book be made from the information and ideas that I have right now.
I looked into my own family background and I find a war hero
who was captured at the fall of Hong Kong during WW2 and he along with two
American volunteer pilots managed to escape from the Japanese. Helped by the
Chinese Communists they eventually made it to Ceylon. Not many managed to
escape the Japanese, just a small example of where a potential story could come
from, could be turned into fiction or if enough information could be found then
perhaps a non-fiction tale of escape and evasion.
Thank you for dropping by. Your writing certainly sounds as if it is based in authentic real life experiences!
About the Author
Having spent a lifetime designing parts for ships, aircraft
and cars I am now back working as an active shipbuilder, I have travelled the
world working and living amongst different cultures always observing, noticing
that people are basically the same the world over. I have always had a natural
passion for ships and the sea.
I love writing about the subject with both fiction and
non-fiction books being produced.
I have written a four-volume history of the ships built at
Leith, with the first Volume published by Whittles Publishing in November 2019.
https://www.whittlespublishing.com/They_Once_Were_Shipbuilders
Volume II, published May 2021.
https://www.whittlespublishing.com/Leith-Built_Ships
I am on linkedin with over 5,200 connections as my
shipbuilder brand “The Loftsman”, I also have the beginnings of a facebook and
instagram set up.
I have another four books underway, all non-fiction.
I have contributed articles to maritime magazines worldwide
and I have my own website and Blog.
https://www.theloftsman.com/
This trilogy is my first series of novels; book 1 and book 2
are complete, with book 3 approximately 30% complete, start, middle, with two
different endings.
Maritime history and adventure with a twist, set amongst
actual ships built, incorporating events in history. As a shipbuilder who
witnessed many adventures or stories in the shipyards and other industry
worldwide, over time, this story is a mix of experiences adapted to a mix of
actual ships that were built at Leith, Scotland. This was the shipyard where I
started out my own working life in the 1970’s. Born and bred in a town that was
full of maritime heritage and characters, all of which lends itself to my
story.
You can follow Ron here: Instagram | Facebook | linkedin
Book Spotlight: Fight or Flight - A Davy Stuart Adventure
Leith, Scotland, 1880. Davy Stuart is an apprentice
shipwright down in the docks. He’s from the poorest of the tenements and it’s a
tough existence. Davy spends his free time drinking and day-dreaming with his
pals.
He then wakes up wounded on a ship, told he has to flee from
home, his family and Scotland.
He is like a rudderless ship stumbling from one fight to
another, is his best friend really a friend or his worst enemy.
Davy travels on going from adventure to battle, never really
knowing who he really is, his encounter with Voodoo leaves him even more
confused.
His adventure take him halfway around the world, then he
lands in post Civil war America, in the South with his black Friend. He owes
his life to Sol.
As he continues his quest to find the woman he intends to
marry, things are never how they seem.
Fight or Flight is an historical adventure novel with a maritime bias; the first in a trilogy.Book link: Amazon UK
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