Featured Interview With Author Oliver Eade
Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
Born and brought up in post-war London, my father was an impoverished artist, whilst my mother, in and out of hospital with cancer, always fed me books to read as a mother hen would feed her chick with scraps. At an early age I was determined to become a vet, but when, at the age of fourteen, I was shat upon by a cow whilst doing work experience with a rural vet, much to the farmer's amusement, I decided to become a doctor instead. I loved my work as a hospital doctor, but what really kept me going during difficult times was my love for my Chinese wife whom I met as a teenager when we played piano duets together. We have family in the US, where I once lived and worked, and in Switzerland… four beautiful granddaughters whom we Facetime whenever possible. Now living in Scotland, where I was a physician in the local hospital, I also enjoy gardening. Watching things grow is like experiencing the miracle of creation day in, day out.
At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
As a child, reading and the escape this provides into other worlds, and other lives, was always so very important for me. Sometimes I would even fake illness to stay off school for a day if I was in the middle of a really gripping book. Ever since, I have always read something every day, mostly just before going to bed. The writing began with a ghost story about fifteen years ago. It was so badly written, I was determined to improve my writing skills, over and over, until I finally had a short story published in a magazine. Since then have written many short stories, several winning prizes, and have published two collections of these. I have also published several novels for adults, young adults and young readers, encouraged to some extent by winning prizes and awards since writing can also be a lonely and demoralising business. Often I have two or three writing projects going at the same time, so I never get 'writers' block'. I particularly love drama, and seeing my plays staged, with brilliant acting, was a most wonderful experience.
Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
Currently, my favourite author has to be Isabel Allende. Her books are all very different, and yet there is always that feeling of deep human understanding in her writing. When it comes to fantasy fiction, however, one of my favourite genres, Ray Bradbury is the real master. His prose style is quite unique, and perfect for the genre. As with Allende, there is also a deep understanding of what it means to be human. And behind the 'fantasy' there is always a powerful message. The Silver Locusts {Martian Chronicles in the US) is surely telling us that White Man destroyed something both fragile and beautiful when he took the land away from the First Nation People of the Americas.
Tell us a little about your latest book?
'The Fire Hills' is a time travel novel that links the Sottish Borders, of a not so distant future, denied independence from an increasingly right wing Westminster Government, with almost two thousand years ago when the local Celts were brutally suppressed by the Romans. No one knows quite why the Romans suddenly left the area around AD 180, but 'The Fire Hills' provides one possible explanation. One that involves a brother and sister in the twenty-first century Scotland, and has something to do with the evil Emperor Commodus, son of the great philosopher-come-Emperor, Marcus Aurelius.
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