 | Can it really been three years since I last hosted a post by Geoff Le Pard to contribute to the launch of his second novel? As you’ll see from the list at the end of this post, he’s published another six books since then. So this new one – currently available for pre-order – must be his ninth! As he reminds me in the piece below, he’s been making me laugh since our first meeting and this follow-up to his debut, Dead Flies and Sherry Trifle, is guaranteed to be a hoot. Let him tell you about it: |
The first inkling that I might write the first book in the Harry Spittle saga emerged during a writers’ retreat where I met Anne. Arguably, but for her encouragement and that of the other attendees, I wouldn’t have taken the two scenes I wrote that week and read to the group on the last evening first saw the light of day and turned them into that first book, Dead Flies and Sherry Trifle a coming of age story loosely based on my experiences as a 19 year old in the ludicrously hot summer of 1976, back home from my first year at University and stuck away in the New Forest.
It always aimed to be a book that would make you laugh and take you on a roller coaster of a journey of growth, much as I did that summer working in a large and wackily staffed country hotel. My recollections, many years later may have lacked detail - which allowed me full rein to use my imagination - but I clearly remembered the characters that shaped and coloured that three months. School and University hadn’t prepared me for the adult world where people from such diverse backgrounds lived and worked cheek by jowl, interacting with the fluid cast of guests.
It was character that drove the creation of that book and it was the characters I created who returned to me some three years after Dead Flies was published to say, politely but firmly that they needed another outlet. Writers will often tell you how their characters taken them over, changing plots and the direction of a novel as the author writes it. That is certainly true for me. But the cast in Dead Flies weren’t content to interfere with my plans as I wrote that book. They wanted another airing. And, as it happens, a third and there will have to be a fourth too.
I love the way I can let my mind float between possible story ideas, waiting for the most pressing to call me to the keyboard. I always said, starting my writing life late on in my advancing years, that I wouldn’t be defined by a genre or setting. I would write whatever I wanted, preferably as different form the last one as possible.
But eventually I gave in and wrote the second book, The Last Will of Sven Andersen which launches in November. If the first book took four years to reach publication and this book, two then the next and the one after will emerge in the next year. They are there, they have to be written.
Bloody hell, I’m possessed…
It always aimed to be a book that would make you laugh and take you on a roller coaster of a journey of growth, much as I did that summer working in a large and wackily staffed country hotel. My recollections, many years later may have lacked detail - which allowed me full rein to use my imagination - but I clearly remembered the characters that shaped and coloured that three months. School and University hadn’t prepared me for the adult world where people from such diverse backgrounds lived and worked cheek by jowl, interacting with the fluid cast of guests.
It was character that drove the creation of that book and it was the characters I created who returned to me some three years after Dead Flies was published to say, politely but firmly that they needed another outlet. Writers will often tell you how their characters taken them over, changing plots and the direction of a novel as the author writes it. That is certainly true for me. But the cast in Dead Flies weren’t content to interfere with my plans as I wrote that book. They wanted another airing. And, as it happens, a third and there will have to be a fourth too.
I love the way I can let my mind float between possible story ideas, waiting for the most pressing to call me to the keyboard. I always said, starting my writing life late on in my advancing years, that I wouldn’t be defined by a genre or setting. I would write whatever I wanted, preferably as different form the last one as possible.
But eventually I gave in and wrote the second book, The Last Will of Sven Andersen which launches in November. If the first book took four years to reach publication and this book, two then the next and the one after will emerge in the next year. They are there, they have to be written.
Bloody hell, I’m possessed…
You said it, Geoff, not me!
The Last Will Of Sven Andersen
Blurb
When Harry Spittle, nearly qualified as a solicitor, is approached to write a Will for old acquaintance Sven Andersen, he is somewhat surprised but rather pleased. That pleasure sours after he finds that the Will Sven actually signs is very different to the one he has drawn up, with Harry as the executor. Disappointment turns to horror when he discovers that Sven has been winding up his late father’s criminal empire and a number of not very nice people are interested in the Will’s contents.
If he is to remain in one piece, able to continue his career in the law and save his on-off relationship with his girlfriend Penny, who is unfortunately under suspicion of murder, he needs to find out what’s happened to the money and distribute it according to Sven’s wishes. The trouble is Sven has not only hidden the assets but also the identities of those who benefit. Harry will have to solve a fiendish puzzle Sven has left behind with the help of his sister Dina before his world comes crashing down. With so many people depending on him, Harry knows it’s time for him to grow up – it’s just that he really, really doesn’t want to.
Set in 1981 to the backdrop of punk, Thatcherite politics and an upcoming Royal wedding, this is a book for those who like their nostalgia served with a side of humour and a dash of optimism all wrapped up in a compelling mystery.
Pre Order Here
Dead Flies and Sherry Trifle
Blurb
It’s summer 1976 and hotter than Hades. Harry Spittle, nineteen, is home from university, aiming to earn some money to go on holiday and maybe get laid. He expects he will be bored rigid, but the appearance of an old family friend, Charlie Jepson, his psychopathic son, Claude, and predatory wife Monica changes that. As his parents’ marriage implodes, Harry’s problems mount; before he knows it he’s in debt up to his ears and dealing in drugs. Things go from bad to worse when he is stabbed. He needs money fast, but now his job is at risk, his sister is in trouble and he has discovered a family secret that could destroy all he holds dear. Will Harry have to join forces with the local criminal mastermind to survive the summer and save his family? Can he regain some credibility and self-respect? Most importantly will he finally get laid?
Dead Flies will be free from 30th October 2019 to 3rd November 2019
Geoff Le Pard Bio
Geoff Le Pard started writing to entertain in 2006. He hasn’t left his keyboard since. When he’s not churning out novels he writes some maudlin self-indulgent poetry, short fiction and blogs at geofflepard.com. He walks the dog for mutual inspiration and most of his best ideas come out of these strolls. He also cooks with passion if not precision.
The Last Will Of Sven Andersen
Blurb
When Harry Spittle, nearly qualified as a solicitor, is approached to write a Will for old acquaintance Sven Andersen, he is somewhat surprised but rather pleased. That pleasure sours after he finds that the Will Sven actually signs is very different to the one he has drawn up, with Harry as the executor. Disappointment turns to horror when he discovers that Sven has been winding up his late father’s criminal empire and a number of not very nice people are interested in the Will’s contents.
If he is to remain in one piece, able to continue his career in the law and save his on-off relationship with his girlfriend Penny, who is unfortunately under suspicion of murder, he needs to find out what’s happened to the money and distribute it according to Sven’s wishes. The trouble is Sven has not only hidden the assets but also the identities of those who benefit. Harry will have to solve a fiendish puzzle Sven has left behind with the help of his sister Dina before his world comes crashing down. With so many people depending on him, Harry knows it’s time for him to grow up – it’s just that he really, really doesn’t want to.
Set in 1981 to the backdrop of punk, Thatcherite politics and an upcoming Royal wedding, this is a book for those who like their nostalgia served with a side of humour and a dash of optimism all wrapped up in a compelling mystery.
Pre Order Here
Dead Flies and Sherry Trifle
Blurb
It’s summer 1976 and hotter than Hades. Harry Spittle, nineteen, is home from university, aiming to earn some money to go on holiday and maybe get laid. He expects he will be bored rigid, but the appearance of an old family friend, Charlie Jepson, his psychopathic son, Claude, and predatory wife Monica changes that. As his parents’ marriage implodes, Harry’s problems mount; before he knows it he’s in debt up to his ears and dealing in drugs. Things go from bad to worse when he is stabbed. He needs money fast, but now his job is at risk, his sister is in trouble and he has discovered a family secret that could destroy all he holds dear. Will Harry have to join forces with the local criminal mastermind to survive the summer and save his family? Can he regain some credibility and self-respect? Most importantly will he finally get laid?
Dead Flies will be free from 30th October 2019 to 3rd November 2019
Geoff Le Pard Bio
Geoff Le Pard started writing to entertain in 2006. He hasn’t left his keyboard since. When he’s not churning out novels he writes some maudlin self-indulgent poetry, short fiction and blogs at geofflepard.com. He walks the dog for mutual inspiration and most of his best ideas come out of these strolls. He also cooks with passion if not precision.
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