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I’m now well into my mid-fifties and have spent my life mainly working in financial services (banks and insurance companies), including Bank of America, as a Reward Consultant, and more recently working on the implementation of global Human Resources systems. I love American Football (we have to say ‘American’ to distinguish it from real football, or what you call ‘soccer’!) and I support the Green Bay Packers who I am hoping to see Live when they come to England later this year for a regular season NFL game. I have two grown up children and am married to Tina who is a schoolteacher. I live in Somerset just south of Bristol on the side of England that faces America across the Atlantic!
I know from one of our conversations that The Waterman has been 30 years in the making. That’s a long time! Can you share that story with readers and explain how the book came to be?
I first had the idea when walking from the office to Moorgate train station, a route which took me across Southwark Bridge, one the many bridges that now span the Thames in central London. This one is a couple of bridges down from where the old London Bridge would have been. I imagined what might be hiding under the bridge – it was late, and I got a bit spooked by it and hurried across to the other side as it put me in mind of the fairy story, The Three Billy Goats Gruff and the troll that lived under the bridge who wanted to eat the goats as they crossed. It grew from there really, and initially was called The Passenger as it started out with Chapter 6 as the opening chapter when the car gets delivered to Jake Harvey. As I researched the area, I became aware of the bridge and I kind of fell in love with it.
You reference a poem throughout the book. Will you please share some background information on the poem and how it relates to the story?
One of the things that I discovered in my research was a fellow called John Taylor, who became known in his lifetime as The Water Poet, though he may have coined the phrase himself. He was a Waterman and became a bit of a celebrity in his lifetime for writing ‘bawdy ballads’, which were often rude satirical prose aimed at people in government, particularly Catholics. England in the 17th century was in turmoil as the Catholics and Protestants came head-to-head for the throne of England – indeed Charles-I had been beheaded in the 1640s after the civil war when the roundheads defeated the cavaliers and the British monarchy was removed – a period known as the Commonwealth, which lasted for about two decades and was run by Oliver Cromwell. When he died the monarchy was restored, although the sovereign power of the King was never re-established and the two Houses in Parliament that we still have today – the commons and the Lords – came into being. John Taylor is little known, and although his ‘workes’ have been reprinted a couple of times, I think he’s overdue a spell in the limelight.
There are many historical references in The Waterman as you discuss everything from physical locations to architecture and even genealogy. What was your process for researching all of this and how long did it take you?
Genealogy is a hobby of mine and I have researched my own family tree extensively – though I don’t think I have any American roots; I am a bit Viking (only a little bit!). Mainly I’m from the English Midlands around Birmingham, from Norfolk and from Wales. So, I used all that knowledge to feed into Jackie’s work and that of her father having used the microfiche machines myself at the Guildhall Library. The rest comes from lots of reading and lots of walking the streets of London. I know the City of London very well having worked up there for around 20 years and though I mainly know my way around via the pubs and bars, I also love its history and archaeology, so I’ve watched TV programmes and read extensively about it over the years. And so much of it comes together in The Waterman – after all, they always say that you should ‘write about what you know’ don’t they! It just seemed to fit.
You chose an interesting cast of characters with incredibly different backgrounds. What made you choose these specific characters?
London is full of rough sleepers or ‘down and outs’ as we call them in England, and I think that is a great way to describe Terry – down and out on his luck. Terry was all of them. He was meant to represent the possible truth behind so many tragic lives – so many of these people just end up homeless and can’t get back on their feet and for so many people, they are just a nuisance, especially in the City, where people earn millions and yet step over these bundles of rags every morning on their way to work. Don’t get me wrong there are a lot of people who do help, but so much more could be done. Jake is just the archetypal City-Boy – I’ve seen hundreds of them, and they are all there in Jake – I really didn’t like him much and I think that comes through. I had someone in mind for him, but I can’t tell you who it is. And Jackie was my heroine; so many Jackie Stubbs are part of London’s history, looking after their menfolk, many of whom drank away their earnings to help them to cope with the stress of their lives and who were often a bit too handy with their fists when they got home at night. I am from a working-class background and having a keen interest in my ancestors, the stories that I have been told about some of them, especially on my dad’s side, have stayed with me! Well let’s just say that Jackie was the embodiment of those selfless hardworking women that cared for their kids and ran their homes as best they could, whilst their husbands worked themselves to death down the docks or the mines or on the factory floors of England and then drank themselves to death in the pubs at night!
Without giving any critical details away, there are paranormal references in the book. Have you ever had a paranormal experience yourself?
Yes, several. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything – I have heard stuff on a few occasions, but my wife has seen a couple of things over the years as has my daughter. Once as a child my wife was with her mother and little sister at a camp site, and they saw a monk with a skull for a face that disappeared when they got close to it – her father went out with a cricket bat looking for the ‘joker’ that was playing a trick on them but didn’t find anyone. She also saw something at her school recently, which is thought to be haunted by a Victorian child, though she thought she saw a school mistress in an old-fashioned dress. My mom has also had lots of experiences though she doesn’t like to talk about them, and my extended family have loads of ghost stories – I grew up hearing about them. I watch a lot of paranormal stuff too and I believe there is something ‘beyond the veil’, the history books are full of these references! Just look at Shakespeare! Can it reach out from beyond though like The Waterman, who knows, but there are stories and real-life experiences out there to suggest that sometimes it can!
I know you work in the field of Human Resources so I assume you wrote this while also working full-time as so many indie writers do. How did you balance the process of working and writing while still having time for a personal life?
I tend not to be able to write when I’m working full time, it’s too exhausting and so I have written mainly during the gaps in my career over the years. I wrote a big chunk of The Waterman when I was made redundant in my mid-twenties and so as I worked my notice, I wrote the first 12 chapters or so, which would have been 1993-94. I finished it during the first covid lockdown in Q2 2020 – I had to bring it right up to date, because when I wrote the 1st bit, there were no cell phones, there wasn’t even an internet! I am working again now but my contract is ending soon and so I’m going to spend 6 months minimum on 3 other books that are almost ready, and I can’t wait to get started again!
Probably one by Stephen King about JFK – brilliant. I read a lot of non-fiction these days, particularly about history and religion. I’m always worried that if I read someone else’s book then I might get unconsciously influenced by their ideas, so I usually only read a lot when I’m on my holidays. Some of my all-time favorites includes The Woman in Black by Susan Hill, The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks, The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver, Salem’s Lot, The Shining and The Stand, all by Stephen King – those are the ones that stand out over the years.
What’s next for you? Are there any future projects that you’d like to share with the readers?
I’d love to be able to write two prequels for The Waterman – Blackouts which tells the World War two story of the two old men, and Bridge Ward Within, which tells the story of Thomas Radcliffe and his wife and partner. But I also have The Brothers Written – all about the abolition of the slave trade and a ghost story set aboard a slave ship, The Burning – set in COVID times against the backdrop of the witch-hunting craze of the 1600s encouraged by James I of England – and The Professor, which scared me so much I had to stop writing it for a while. It’s very dark and set at the English seaside in the inter-war years.
What advice do you have for other indie authors?
Don’t listen to other people’s advice and never stop writing. Write everywhere and on everything. Describe scenes in your head when you see them and write them down 1st chance you get, or you’ll forget. And leave a pad by the side of your bed for the same reason.
What is the one question I didn’t ask that you wish I had?
Good question. Maybe what’s the thing with you and water? To be honest I have always had a fear of water, particularly deep water yet I’ve always had the urge to jump into deep water! I love fishing though I’m not very good at it – my dad is, so I just tend to turn up! But there’s something about water that’s mystical, and I just love rivers and lakes and the sea.
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