Below is a brief introduction to my Published Books. For more details, downloads and to purchase, please see the individual pages via the ‘Books’ menu.
KILLING iNNOCENTS
How many times does a good man get betrayed before he snaps? The greatest injury suffered by Stephen Dale when returning home from the war in Iraq was a moral one. No real care or understanding is given to a man who is mentally collapsing, only SSRI drugs, which exacerbate his already confused mind as Stephen goes out for revenge.
THE OFFENDER’S NEMESIS
There has been a ‘big change’ in society where now politicians are superfluous to needs, and as celebrities are more meaningful to the general populace they are used in the process of social control. The Offender’s Nemesis is the most popular television show that deals with ‘undesirables’ in a society that is in a perpetual climate of fear. The show satisfies a resentful public and distracts them from their reality. The ‘Offenders’ are ridiculed, punished, tortured and killed in a variety of methods that are gratuitously hideous, yet bizarrely entertaining. It is crude, brutal and simplistically slapstick. The show’s host is Alan Manville, the country’s most famous celebrity figure, a man who is seen as in touch with the ordinary person. Chris Kirby sees his brother on the show and from then on his life falls apart as his wife and daughter are separated from him. Will Chris be reunited with his family? Will he find his brother? We follow Chris as he embarks upon his search, and discovers that things in his personal life were very different from what he thought.
MALAYAN SWING
The story is set within the world of ‘community care.’ A system that claims to make provision for those having learning disabilities and mental health difficulties who are being placed in the “community.” The story is told through the words of Aidan, a forty five year old man who has been moved from a group home where he felt safe and had developed a positive self identity, and now he finds himself in a ‘community’ that is fraught with fear, violence and degradation. His story is of a struggle in a strange environment where danger and suspicion have become his principle experience in the new ‘freedom.’ The reader is invited to experience an isolated journey and gain an understanding of the brutal forces that those who are mentally ill are exposed to and exploited by. The progress Aidan had made over the years, of building confidence and developing skills to be independent, deteriorates as he is plunged into a world where he finds no respect or encouragement; his disabilities are made obvious to him through his experiences and daily interaction.
COOL WATER
The story is set in Belfast after the signing of the Good Friday Agreement in the year 2000. It examines the relationship between the establishment and street criminals. What makes this story different from the many expositions of a state and criminals working together is the detailed regard given to the central character, Donny Campbell, an infamous paramilitary figure, as we gain insights into his personal development from childhood experiences to his adult sexuality and psychotic personality. Donny Campbell finds a kindred spirit in Lord Roddy Harding, a man working in the highest echelons of society. Their relationship fractures when Donny Campbell becomes a liability and because of this change the British state has to ‘despatch’ one of its prolific foot soldiers.
AN UNLIKELY FOOLIGAN
An autobiographical account of the writer’s experience and feelings whilst being in Japan.
It is a chronicle of two trips to Japan, the first being a week or so before the World Cup in 2002 and the second trip being a year later. The story is told through the experience of the second visit with reflections of the trip a year earlier.
By looking at another culture with no agenda but just a desire to have a break, the traveller developed an awareness of his own society by comparing it to Japan. Quite inadvertently the traveller’s idle musing took an informal sociological perspective. The telling is not academic but subjective with tongue firmly in cheek as feelings and observations are recounted for the reader to share and hopefully enjoy. ‘Fooligan’ is a mispronunciation of the word given for the English football ‘hooligan.’
This unlikely fooligan makes his own way, but because of his physical presentation he incurs the attention of the indigenous people who respond to what the media have given and see him as one of the ‘fooligans’ that will be arriving for the world Cup. Yet this traveller is no fooligan as he seeks out pastry shops and meets people of warmth and good humour, being welcomed by the ordinary Japanese person, and even being sworn in as a Girl Guide in a late night ceremony in a bar in Kyoto. In conclusion the observer casts a look at his own society, evaluating methods of control, dominant perceptions and the construction of prejudice, and he doesn’t sit on the fence in giving his feelings to the way of things.
GOD’S LONELY MEN
In the book I take you on an insider’s journey through the late seventies Punk Rock phenomenon whilst maintaining an outsider’s view on society at large from my position as the drummer in West London hopefuls The Lurkers. I chart our progress from the pubs and clubs to Top of the Pops and back again, giving a wry look at the music business in the process. But this is much more than a ‘warts ‘n all’ look at the rock ‘n’ roll industry, here we see future rock stars soon to have the world at their feet rubbing shoulders with everyday people struggling against the odds to find their feet in the world.