I love helping people to turn their thoughts, ramblings and scribbles into a book, it's a very rewarding experience. And to be quite honest I'm not a well known fiction author so I have to work on what brings in the money. I've met and worked with some wonderful people and became firm friends with them all, Dwain Chambers,Crissy Rock and Alice Barry to name just a few of the celebrities. But I've also worked with two POWs from WWII in 'The Blue Door' (Lise Kristensen) and 'Do The Birds Still Sing In Hell' (Horace Greasley) Both books were very moving experiences although oh so very different. But yes, my first love is fiction crime thrillers. I have three published and two more on the back burner half finished. I just don't seem to have had any time to work on them these last few years. I'm not complaining though because I love what I'm doing and still making a living. One day perhaps I'll get my own name on a best seller instead of someone else's. That would be nice.

Yes. I met with Alice earlier in the year and we are currently about 40,000 words in to her book. Alice has a hotel in Blackpool and I am going over there next week to talk about more material. I was fortunate enough to be invited onto the set of Shameless the last time I was there. What an experience that was, the Jockey and Frank Gallagher and of course Lilian too! A great experience and all lovely helpful people. I confess I had never heard of Shameless until I met up with ALice. Now I am a fan.

I'm working on four books at present but yes, one of them is called; 'Juan Francisco Cortez.' It's a true story which took place during the Spanish Civil War. The story begins around 1904 in a village called Abdet about 25 km from Benidorm. A young couple fall in love and as a result of their passions Maria falls pregnant. Their parents and immediate family are horrified as the young couple are not married. They turn to the church for advice as was often the case in those days. The church orders young Maria to leave the village. She is sent to Alcoy with an aunt while her boyfriend Emilio is banished to the city of Valencia and set to work for a gang master. He is no more than an unpaid slave. Maria’s child is born, a young boy, but before Maria has had a chance to name him he is stolen in the middle of the night. A paid employee of the Catholic Church takes the boy to the outskirts of the village of Xirles some distance from Abdet and abandons the child where he knows he is likely to be found. The church has convinced Maria and Emilio’s parents that it is the only way to preserve the families honour within their local village. The boy is found hanging from an olive tree suspended in a wicker basket. He is found by Vincente Cortez Ortuño who takes him back to the village and to his wife Fatima. In time Vincent and Fatima formally adopt the boy and name him Juan Francisco Cortes. Back in Alcoy Maria is distraught. She escapes from her Aunts home and makes it back to her village. She is further dismayed to find out that not only have the church taken her son from her but she no longer has Emilio to comfort her. She begs her family to tell her where Emilio is but they remain silent. In Valencia, after a couple of years Emilio manages to escape from his life of slavery together with a young prostitute called Pilar. During a confrontation in Calpe, Pilar is shot dead by the Guardia Civil and Emilio is on the run again. Emilio decides to return to Abdet one last time to catch a glimpse of his former lover Maria. As their eyes meet the love between them is rekindled once again and they flee the village ending up in Algeria in an attempt to start a new life. For the next 12 years they build a successful business in their adopted country but return to Spain at least once a year in an attempt to find their son. Their search eventually brings them to the Catholic priest, Father Cano who originally ordered their son to be taken away. He is on his deathbed with La Cucaracha and refuses to disclose the whereabouts of their boy. But with the help of an old Berber Mohammed, his tongue loosens and he discloses the village where the baby was taken. He also advises them of the boy’s name. Juan Francisco Cortes is now fourteen years of age and ironically heavily involved with the Catholic Church. It is clear the priesthood beckons for him. At the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War, Juan Francisco Cortes is now in his early thirties and a priest with his own church and parishioners. The Spanish Civil War affected every single family in Spain with fathers fighting sons and brother fighting brother. The book depicts the brutality of the war and also the role of the Catholic Church during this black period of Spanish history. The timeline and historic events are accurate and balanced around the main characters of the book. Towards the end of the Spanish Civil War Juan Francisco Cortes loses faith in the organisation he has dedicated his life to. He questions the very existence of God and regrets his vow of chastity as he meets and falls in love with a young Republican girl. He can stand back no longer and remain quiet as the atrocities take place around him. He speaks out during a Sunday mass and informs his congregation that he is to step down. The church, he informs them, is not the sort of organisation he imagined it to be. Juan Francisco Cortes has been controlled for too long. He speaks out against the corruption and the way the church control the people from the cradle to grave. He tells of his disgust at the way they remove every last peseta from the pocket of the poor peasant. He informs the congregation that the gold leaf adorning the statues of Jesus Christ and Mary Magdalene in their small church would bring in enough money to feed the village for many years. The following evening the Guardia Civil arrive to question him. They inform him he is to be taken to Benidorm and interrogated about his republican friends. He is driven away and the car stops just outside the village of La Nucia. Juan Francisco Cortes is shot dead and his body abandoned by the side of the road. The following morning Vincente Cortez Ortuño is on his way to his brother’s house in Finestrat and is the first person to set eyes on the broken body of his adopted son riddled with the bullets from the guns of the Guardia. This is the quite incredible tale of Juan Francisco Cortes, found as an abandoned child by Vincente Cortez Ortuño then again by the same man thirty two years later as a corpse and of course it’s true. Wow! I hope I haven't given too much away. I'm about 60,000 words in, probably the same to go again.

Grisham, springs to mind and Harlan Coben too. I can read almost anyone and anything and especially enjoy some of my author friends like like Trevor Dalton and Martin Penalver. I think if I was to select a writer and a book above all others and if my arm were to be twisted a little, my favourite most memorable book in recent years would be 'That Immortal Jukebox Sensation' by Gareth Roberts.