Featured author: Paul Anthony

I'm happy to welcome the very accomplished author, Paul Anthony, to A Blue Million Books. He is the author of Moonlight Shadows, which one Amazon reviewer described as a "Wonderfully twisty mix of crime and spy thriller with great characters."

About the book:

When Conor is betrayed, he spends the night hidden in the bracken surrounded by security forces hunting him down. As moonlight shadows flicker, he realises who is responsible. With his unit destroyed, Conor sets out for revenge.



But dark unspoken forces are at work and the track goes cold.



A decade later, Pegasus, a discredited British Intelligence Agent, produces a mysterious piece of computer software and demands reinstatement. The enigmatic software, carried in a memory stick, threatens to destabilise the world’s economy should it fall into the wrong hands.



Assured of peace, desperate to be home to be near her loved ones, Pegasus returns only to find herself plunged into a world where he who holds the software holds the future of the world in their hands.



A breathtaking international chase involving terrorists, spies, and criminals ensues with greed, corruption, dishonesty and mistrust, uncovered in the most powerful of places as the need to secure an enigmatic memory stick dominates proceedings, twists, and conspires to destroy the human relationships that so many take for granted. Only Davies King, a chess playing, barfly of a detective, and his trusty team, seem capable of bringing sanity to the lawless corruption threatening the very fabric of a cyberspace driven society.



But all the men and women of power can be trusted with such responsibilities, can’t they? Or is one of their number a traitor to his country, a traitor to his calling..... A traitor of the worst kind. And there’s only one traitor.... Isn’t there?



From Pauline Livingstone, Editor and Book Critic:

Paul Anthony builds tension into every page. His characters are so real you will feel as if you know them, and believe me, some you will never want to know... A cracking read... 

Interview with Paul Anthony:

Paul, how long have you been writing, and how did you start?

I began writing poetry when I was 16 years old and have hundreds of poems dotted around the house. Some years ago I consolidated some of them into my book ‘Sunset’ and I plan to do similar in the future. I wrote my first book in 1994 - The Fragile Peace -  and this was published in print only in 1996. It was a best seller for the publisher (and myself) reaching 25,000 copies before I escaped the contract in 2012 and recently updated and Kindled it. After the first, I got a commission for the second - BUSHFIRE - but the company went bust 6,000 sales later and not one penny received, Oh dear, I turned to television and screenplays with some success and then decided to concentrate on books. So I’ve been writing pretty much solidly since 1994.


How did you come up with the title of your book?

The title Moonlight Shadows came to me early in the writing since the ‘baddie’ hides in the bracken all night enduring the moonlight shadows all around him. But the words also turn out to be the code for a piece of missing software that is central to the plot and threatens to destroy the world’s economy.


How did you create the plot for this book?

I created the plot sitting by the pool in Corralejo thinking things through and working out the characters and the plan of action.

What do you do to market your book?

I market via social media, Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin, Goodreads, and I’m a member of both the Independent Authors Network and the Writers Circle. But I also run a book club locally and do regular talks to a wide variety of organisations, book clubs, library groups, history groups, and community groups. I talk about my life in the police service, working with various national agencies, and the publishing process. I also have an extensive email library and contacts that I have built up over the years and are part of the marketing strategy. I’m hoping this will work one day and I will sell a book!!

I know authors aren't supposed to, but do you have a favorite character?

Yes, a character by the name of Claudia Jones. She is a civilian administration officer in all three Davies King books and a dominant figure in all three stories as her character just fits into everything that is going on during the investigations.

Tell us about your favorite scene in the book.

One of my favourite scenes in Moonlight Shadows is a chase through the centre of Amsterdam, where many a gunshot is fired in anger. But I’m not going to spoil it by giving details of the chase other than to say it ‘rocks.’

Okay, I believe you! Who are your favourite authors?

Gerald Seymour, Terrence Strong, Jack Higgins, and a dozen more.

Do you ever get writer’s block?

No, I’ve never really suffered from it. When I get tired I just close the computer down and watch TV, read or have a snooze. I tend to spend a lot of time plotting out the book and the characters in my head. I write notes and run a chronology through the chapter headings and then ‘just write it.’ I stop, return to the start, write a bit more, stop, return to the start - and continue. Then I use my own team to edit before a final polish. Once I’m sitting writing, that’s it. Do not disturb.

What do you like to do when you’re not writing?

I like to keep physically fit doing kettlebells, jogging, swimming and pilates. I go to the gym four or five times a week. I play guitar badly and not enough and enjoy walking in the Lake District.

If you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be?

Carvoeiro, Portugal or Corralejo, Fuerteventura.

What are you working on now?

Behead the Serpent. This one consolidates Moonlight Shadows and contains the same characters. I’ve really enjoyed both researching and writing it. This is the draft blurb on the book cover: Disturbing photographs discovered in a vacant office in central London are not immediately connected to a ferocious attack on Davies King. But when the campaign against the chief of detectives and his closest friends turns to blackmail, it becomes personal. A series of horrendous bomb attacks and brutal shootings convince Davies to discharge himself from hospital and confront the two ‘most wanted’ criminals in the United Kingdom. Disillusioned with an unreliable temporary chief constable, and anxious to relieve a stressed out bomb disposal officer, the chess playing detective joins forces with British Intelligence to challenge the megalomaniacs who are holding the nation to ransom. Her Majesty’s Government announce a Tier One threat level as the lights across the south of England are extinguished and parts of Europe and North America face the reality of the first stages of society’s breakdown - Dystopia. It’s a simple question for the obstinate detective to answer. Does the country pay the ransom or do the lights go out?
It’s not rocket science, but who makes the decision, and why?

Paul, good luck with Moonlight Shadows, and please come back soon and tell us more about Behead the Serpent.

About the author:

Paul Anthony is a retired British detective who has served extensively throughout the U.K and elsewhere. He is a former winner of the Independent Authors Network Featured Author Contest and was a Featured  Author at the 'Books without Borders' Event in Yonkers, New York, 2012. He has been published by a vanity house and a traditional house. He is currently self-publishing under his own imprint Paul Anthony Associates. Over the years, Paul has also written both television and screenplays / film.  He is currently working on the third Davies King novel - Behead the Serpent which he expects to publish in February, 2013. 


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