Illuminati looks like an interesting historical
book. Can you tell us a little about it?
This eight
part series chronicles the rise of America and the small cluster of businessmen
who helped turn the country into the world’s leading superpower, while at the
same time making themselves extraordinarily wealthy. Starting in 1865 and
culminating at the end of World War II, the story moves from one historical
event to the next with a heavily-researched, fictional narrative woven
in-between. It is an alternative take on the past, rewriting what has been
written before, and connecting dots of evidence that have been previously
overlooked.
To put this
series into context, one of the characters goes on to create the world’s first
billion dollar corporation. Another sells his company for $900 million, the
years thereafter making $59 million in dividends. Both these events occurred
over one hundred years ago when the average wage was barely $1 a day. If you
were to capitalise those figures purely for inflation, these men would each be
worth $34 billion today. However, both went on to invest in the majority of the
20th Century’s greatest advancements, as well as running their own banks and
funding the allies during the war. Therefore if you were to capitalise their
wealth with a mere 5% return on top, these two families sit with over $2
trillion each.
This is why
the story needs to be told, for it is the greatest story of our modern times.
What will readers get out of your book?
One of our readers who left a review on Amazon said: 'It
made me want to study American history' which is also part of the tale. While
the story is highly controversial and puts forward theories about how the world
is run, ultimately it is a Historical Fiction Novel and if it gets people taking
a greater interest in America's great past then that is only a good thing. It's
like a rampage through all of the things you were taught in school but brought
to life through an interconnecting story of what may have happened behind the
scenes.
Why should the reader buy the book? - for 7 days from
Wednesday 8 April the book will be price dropped to $0.99 on the Amazon Kindle
store. That's less than the price of a beer and currently you can’t even go out
to buy that beer so might as well stay in and read this book!
What inspired you when writing Illuminati?
All sorts of things have inspired me and over a period of
many years. At university studying Sociology I read the texts of Joseph
Stiglitz and in particular, ‘Globalization and its Discontents’. That sparked
an interest in world politics and since then many other influences have added
to that search for knowledge. Watching the events of 9/11, the war on terror
and the financial crash of 2008 and wanting to know how and why these events
occurred, also led me down a path of exploration. Films such as Bowling for
Columbine, The Big Short and even The Great Gatsby seemed to pull me further
into sitting down and actually writing the story slowly forming in my head. I
believed that there was some link between everything, if only I researched deep
enough, and far back enough, to connect all the dots. And I knew that if I did,
I would come up with a common sense explanation of how we got to the position
we find ourselves in the world we live in today.
When did you decide to become a writer?
This book started over 4 years ago when I wrote the first 3
chapters, which took two months to complete. Having exhausted myself to get
even 3 chapters, I stared at the gigantic task ahead – and quit. It just seemed
impossible that I would ever have the time to research and write the entire
book, let alone a full series of 8 novels. Then, my wife had a baby… and
everything changed. I realized that if I didn’t commit myself to completing the
series, whether it became successful or not, that I would be a failure. And so,
every night since that day I have gone to work for my usual 8 hours, and then
burned the midnight oil until 2 in the morning in order to get the job done.
When writing Illuminati did anything stand out as
particularly challenging?
The book has taken over 3 years to research and write,
everything from the buildings in New York, to the way people dressed, to the
businesses that were open and what people ate at the time - this story is
enriched with great detail to transport the reader to another time and place.
Sometimes a simple looking paragraph may have taken several hours to research
and pen; scrolling back through newspaper articles, historical accounts and
photographic archives to ensure the story remains true to the time.
What do you like to do when not writing?
When I am not working and not writing I dedicate the rest of
my time to my family. Sleeping is the thing that has gone out of the window,
but I guess that in a day containing only 24 hours – something had to give!!
Where can readers find out more about your work?
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