This is the Facebook profile picture of my guest on the blog today.
This is the least worrying thing about him.
So now to the goatman himself-
Can you introduce yourself and the MIE readers to the Pixelloverse?
Well, I’m a bit of a shadowy
figure. Not according to my doctor who’s told me to lose weight or die but in
more general terms. I’m a Brit currently living in Germany for reasons of cake.
I do have a day-job but if I tell you that or my real name, then I’d have to
kill you and no-one wants that. I write books in lots of genres (30 so far!)
and they tend to coalesce around historical topics, which I often find hard to
take entirely seriously.
The Pixelloverse is a parallel universe inhabited mainly by me and my strange sense of humour. Other people come and occasionally I let them go.
MIE readers like to hear what
life is like in another country. Are you English but now living, writing and
working in Germany?
I draw M’lud’s attention to my
previous answer. I’ve written a whole book about the differences between living
in the UK and Germany, so summarising this is difficult but if I had to put it
in a word, that word would be…cake. Luckily, I don’t have to very often.
Basically, imagine Britain with better transport, food and things that worked.
See, it’s hard. No homeschooling is impossible for Americans to wrap their
heads around but it has the interesting consequence that all schools have to be
equally good- the rich cannot opt out. Could be something for Keir Starmer’s Labour
Party to ponder.
You write about London with
the same affection as Christopher Fowler.
I do like London. It has much
of the best of Britain- not just there are always things going on but folk from
all over the world wash up there and mostly rub along together. My son seems to
have inherited this predilection and took part of his Law degree there but
whether he will, only time and property prices will tell.
I never met the FF in person
and The Secret Seven never really took off in Germany (some problem with the
initials). I lived in the SW for several years and had my fair share (and often
other people’s share) of pasties. I even started talking like Natasha Kinski in
Tess of the D’urbervilles for a while but a dose of anti-biotics seemed to do
the trick.
Well, I did spend quite a bit
of time outside classrooms, outside the Headteacher’s room and quite often
outside the school altogether. I was actually banned from the premises at
lunchtime for a while, as I was causing so much mayhem. And that was just primary
school. Another time, I had to sit in the centre circle of the netball court at
breaks but eventually everyone came and sat with me, so I kind of won that one.
I’m just not very good with rules. Strange that I should end up in Germany,
which, stereotypes aside, has a very rules-based culture.
Who were the comedians that
shaped your sense of humour and can the rest of us seek compensation is some
way.
I like all kinds of comedians
but I’m quite a tough audience- I don’t laugh easily. Right now, there’s a
Finnish comedian called Ismo (check him out online) who does lots of
interesting material, often about the peculiarities of English. Other figures I
come back to include Jim Jefferies, Bill Burr, Stewart Lee and of course, Frank
Sidebottom.
Address all queries about
compensation to Dan Brown. He owes us all.
I’ve loved reading Never Is a
Long Time and once I’ve finished the books I’ve to read for Crime fest I’m
going to go back and read the other books. Beautifully written and rather
enchanting tale of a teenager who wakes up dead in Highgate Cemetery…. with
Karl Marx.
I don’t want to ask where you
get your ideas from but, what inspired that book?
There are lots of interesting
dead people in Highgate Cemetery (Douglas Adams, George Eliot, Malcolm
McClaren…the list is endless). I just wondered what they did all day. Or all
night. I’ve also always been fascinated by the concept of ghosts and the
logistics of how being dead might be. Marx is there just for comic relief.
You also write a lot of young
adult books, how to they differ from adult books?
Shorter words & big
pictures. These are just two of the things you rarely find in my books. They
tend to appeal to precocious children and childish adults. Find out which one
you are and commit.
Living in Germany as you do,
are Bavarians like Scottish people? Good at drinking, singing and castles?
No, no and yes.
You are very active on social
media. You have a day job, and you write very good books. I like to think I
manage 2 out the 3. What’s your secret?
I once killed a badger with a
cricket bat.
Why is your Facebook profile a
goat?
Just kidding.
And the final words?
Just realised that MIE doesn't mean 'Missing in Edinburgh'- a few of my titles do relate to crime: the Shirley Burly books (directly), the Leonardo & Shakespeare books ( indirectly) and the Keith Ramsbottom series, which are criminally underrated.
I live in fear of the humour fest if Jeff and Scott ever meet in some alternate reality. Perhaps not- it'd be a fun place to be!
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