Meet our Author on Spotlight, multi-award-winning science fiction writer, Clayton Graham.
Tell us something about Clayton Graham, the man.
My childhood was set in a background of cobbled streets, ration books, terraced housing [think Coronation Street, if you have ever seen the English soap], milkman's horses, coal dumped in the cellar, fish and chips on good days, bread and dripping on not good days, free school dinners (at lunchtime) and low paid footballers.
A retired aerospace engineer, I have worked in the United Kingdom, Europe, the USA and Australia – and every location was a blessed and treasured experience. I have always had an interest in Science Fiction and where it places humankind within a universe we are only just starting to understand.
Animals, including well behaved pets, and all the natural world, are a particular love of mine.
Family get-togethers, walking, travelling, gardening and writing occupy most of my waking hours.
And who's the writer? How was SAVING PALUDIS conceived?
As a youngster I read a lot of Science Fiction. I loved the ‘old school’ masters such as HG Wells, Jules Verne, Isaac Asimov and John Wyndham. As I left those formative years behind, I penned short stories when I could find a rare quiet moment amidst life’s usual distractions.
Combining future science with the paranormal is my passion. ‘Milijun’, my first novel, was published in 2016 and ‘Saving Paludis’, was published in 2018. They are light years from each other, but share the future adventures of mankind in an expansive universe as a common theme.
Saving Paludis is based on a handwritten piece I penned many years ago, when writing a novel was the stuff of dreams. Events occur light years away, at the extreme of man’s colonized universe, and that in itself spurred my imagination. When writing, I love to let my thoughts run riot, but always find that the characters within the story dictate where it is going and what happens next. In essence, it is the characters who formulate the tale!
We don’t know all that much about our cosmic surrounds – they remain as mysterious as ever – and that is the appeal of Science Fiction.
But we are getting closer.
Why did you choose the SCI-FI genre?
I love mystery and technology, and am fascinated by the so-called paranormal [in my humble Earth-based opinion, science we do not yet understand]. Science Fiction is a love of mine, has been since I was a teenager, escaping to new worlds in the back streets of Stockport, England. I suppose it was a way of escaping the starkness of the post war Britain into which I was born, an escape to other worlds in the company of possible nuclear attack and the ‘generous’ four minute warning; the ever-present threat of devastating war.
I want to see what happens to mankind, to combine humans with other worlds, stir, and see what happens. What is our future anyway? Where are we going [if anywhere]?
And I really want to share the journeys!
Is there a book or author that inspired you to be a writer?
Of all the books I have read, those by HG Wells stand out. This author was a visionary with a remarkable insight into the future. A close second would be Robert Louis Stevenson. ‘Treasure Island’ is still a favourite of mine – a wonderful adventure in a world far from our own.
What can readers expect when they read Saving Paludis?
Saving Paludis is Science Fiction which delivers futuristic technology, alien political intrigue, and high-octane, paranormal action. What exactly happens when a subjugated alien race plots over centuries to regain their planet? How will this interact with the growing conflict between Earth authorities and Paludis? Just what is the mysterious threat which apparently emanates from this outlying verdant planet?
Above all, Saving Paludis tells the story of three strangers and a mysterious seer who must join together to save their world.
The book deals with many issues but conflict, camaraderie, coexistence, love and tragedy reign supreme.
What do you love about being an author?
Sharing my characters’ adventures with readers. Describing new worlds. Interacting humans with other-worldly circumstances. I just love readers to spread their own wings and share the journey.
What is your message to readers?
I invite all lovers of Science Fiction and Mystery to join the interstellar adventures and enter the new worlds represented by the books I have written so far. They represent First Contact with a difference. To quote a reviewer of Saving Paludis:
“By the end, I felt as if I’d witnessed an interstellar adventure of truly epic proportions.”
Best Wishes to all readers out there, on Earth or elsewhere.
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