Featured Interview With Philip Holmes
Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
I am 58 years old and have worked in manufacturing all my adult life. I have been married for 35 years to the lovely ( and patient) Julie, have two grown-up kids and two grandchildren and an ageing, but adorable Border Terrier called Coco. I was born, and have lived all my life in the town of Wellingborough, about 60 miles from London.
At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
I started reading at a very early age, but only started taking a real interest in "serious" books when I stumbled across a copy of "The Rats" by the late, great horror writer, James Herbert. It was such a revelation. I think I was about 13 or 14 and somebody had left a copy of the book in a youth hostel we were staying at ( I was on a school trip to North Wales) and I read the whole thing in about two days. I had never read anything like it, such a powerful, full-on horror story that still resonates with me now. In my twenties, I wrote a lot of horror, and fantasy, several short stories were published in fanzines and small press publications. I didn't finish my first novel until I was in my early thirties. I had a couple of agents very interested when I submitted the first three chapters, but I fumbled the ball on that occasion, and in my excitement, I rushed it and it came to nothing. I didn't attempt the process again until a few years ago. The result was "The Queen of Downtown." My first published book.
Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
Reading is similar to listening to music. If somebody says, "Which bands do you like, or who's your favourite artist?" I can never tell them; there's just too much out there. It's the same with authors, genres and books in general. When I was younger I read only horror and fantasy. I adored Lovecraft and Poe alongside modern-day writers such as James Herbert, Stephen King and Robert McCammon. I still read a lot of their stuff. Swan Song by Robert McCammon is one of my favourite books of all time. If you haven't read it yet, I urge you to track it down, it's phenomenal! My reading bag is an eclectic mix now, amongst my favourite authors are: Clive Barker, Neil Gaiman, Bernard Cornwell, John Grisham, John Connolly, Conn Iggulden, Simon Scarrow, Harlan Coben, Peter Swanson and so many more.
Tell us a little about your latest book?
It is called "The Queen of Downtown" and tells the story of a high-class prostitute called Gemma Bradshaw, aka Candy Girl, who accidentally kills the psychotic son of a ruthless businessman in self-defence and then goes on the run, attempting to stay under the radar. Ray Jessop, a former special forces operative, specialising in military intelligence, now working as a private investigator is searching for a girl who blackmailed an ex-army buddy when he stumbles across the search for Gemma and becomes embroiled in the plot to hunt her down. I like to write about ordinary, everyday characters thrust into extraordinary situations. It took me ages to write, over three years, Most authors say that you should write something every day, even if it's only a couple of sentences. I tried this, but sometimes I just found it impossible. For me, the hardest part was the editing and the re-editing. You change one character's pov slightly and it impacts on a different character's story arc. It's the literary equivalent of The Butterfly Effect. I think I re-wrote huge parts of the book six or seven times. The idea came to me when I was watching a TV programme about modern policing. One officer said that it was almost impossible to just "disappear" in an age where everybody has access to a camera and social media and there is CCTV on every street corner. I thought, well what if you had to? Could you stay hidden in a society that craves publicity and a perverse desire to know what is going on with just about everybody? The book is available on Amazon.co.uk as an e-book or in paperback.