Phil Simpkin - Author

Well guys; I knew it had to happen at some time, but my first three star review appeared on Kindle pages for 'Jack Ketch's Puppets' over the weekend.  All the rest have been five stars to date. The positives? The lady acknowledged it was great story, and with strong characters, and it would have done better to have gone through a professional Literary Agency to have it properly assessed and edited. I wish! The negatives? It was described as 'poorly written and researched'...OUCH. I have found the spelling mistake she refers to and I admit, I never considered 'okey dokey' to be a fairly recent saying, so let that one slip by...that was the research error! I would have preferred 'poorly written or poorly edited', but that is the cost of putting a book out there for review...it can be uncomfortable! My research, otherwise, I would hope, was sound. I was disturbed, viewing my novel again, that it does contain a larger number of punctuation

Please click here to view the interview on Clancy's blog...

Hey guys; I am still trying to get used to all the time shift attributed to associating with people globally! I have just been reminded that tomorrow (Australian time) - which will be Saturday 25th UK time, I am the guest Author on Clancy Tucker's Blogspot. Clancy is a multi-talented, multi-award winning author, photographer, multi-lingual, and frequently short-listed Australian writer / author. His book 'Gunnedah Hero' is a brilliant read. He has 3 Australian National Literary awards... what else can I say? His blog is accessible at... http://www.clancytucker.blog.com/ His website at... http://www.clancytucker.com.au/ Read what he has to say about me...I hope he has been kind!

Hey Guys; I hope that many of you will have had an opportunity to watch last night's ITV drama - the second in the 'Mr Whicher' crime stories, originating from author Kate Summerscale. I love these dramas, especially as it gives me a chance to spy on how this period is visualised and the period re-created...to compare and contrast with my own novels 'The Borough Boys' series. The second story was set after poor old Mr Whicher's demise from the Metropolitan Police, at a point in the 1860's where he was available as a private investigator. Strangely, one of my characters, Francis 'Tanky' Smith, who was a real Policeman in Leicester, did exactly the same in 1863/4...and he is put forward as a possible role model for Sherlock Holmes! Mr Whicher (Played by the wonderfully dry and rugged Paddy Considine) comes to the assistance of Susan Spencer (Olivia Colman...congratulations on last night's awards!...how spooky was that!). A case of a missing

Well Mr  +Chaunce Stanton . This is not the sort of story book that I would normally ever pick up off a shelf, anywhere. I am a bit of a stick, and I love my crime and historical fiction. However, I actually really enjoyed it! It is a story that once you immerse yourself in, it warms you through, and engages you completely with the lives of its main characters. The heat and dust of the desert can be felt and draws you into the tension. From about Chapter twenty it was impossible to put down. I wanted to see how the turn would change everyone, and I love the way you created the suspense and the story swung. As an Arachnophobe, I was enthralled by your imagery of the cowled spiders, and their hold over Luano, physically and in his imagination. Scary stuff, with the most imaginative cobwebs I have ever seen described. I began to see the illusion in the story, and the surreality of the lives of the main players, touchable but always slipping out of the fingertips. A boy'

Hey guys; There have been several posts of late on the writers' groups that I interact with, regarding influences and triggers that prompt stories to be written. As a guy with strong historical and local interests, I always think that my first stop when mapping out my next novel, is the list of public houses, geographically, that existed at the time. I think of 'Jamaica Inn' and 'The Admiral Benbow' - each of which conjours up a vivid image of a time and a place, and of a community of some interest, in famous classics. I have a long list of Leicester Pubs, which I can date by cross-referencing to Trade Directories and Census records, whose names are evocative, and add a sense of time and place. With my novels featuring Police and Criminals, they are a natural stomping ground for my characters, and frequent hangouts take place within them. Look through some of the Historical Trade directories that are available when you next chose a location, and see w