Diving with sharks and mantas…

The Nadia Laksheva series contains a lot of diving, and as they say, write what you know… I’ve just been diving with sharks and mantas in Socorro Islands, off the western coast of Mexican Baja. These are remote uninhabited islands in the Pacific Ocean, famed for sightings of many large ocean-going fish (called pelagics), including sharks and giant mantas, as well as humpback whales and dolphins. 

 

On the menu in May were mainly sharks and mantas. For me, mantas are the most graceful creatures on the planet, and we had a LOT of contact time with them while diving, especially at a location called the Boiler.…

How a writer writes about being a spy…(without being one)

By definition, it’s not always easy to find out how the world of espionage works, so how does a writer create it? At least one reviewer of my Nadia Laksheva spy series believes I may actually be a spy (former, she hopes). So, here are some tricks of the trade (writing, not espionage).

Before getting started, it has to be said that most people are not spies either, so won’t know if what I write is realistic or not. However, those people do have an idea, whether from the papers, movies, or documentaries.…

Saved the best till the end?

I’ve been getting feedback from people who have read 88 North, the finale to the series that started with 66 Metres and charts Nadia’s progress in her personal war against the terrorist Salamander. In short, people are telling me this is the best book. It’s good to know, as it was produced under considerable time pressure. Maybe that’s the best way to write fast-paced thrillers – my sense of urgency and high stakes translated onto the page, lol. I did enjoy writing the exotic locations, from Hong Kong, which I know very well, to Sudan and North Korea, which I don’t know at all (though I was diving just north of Sudan a couple of weeks ago). …