Now that “The Atlantic Connection” is complete, I felt it was a good time to talk a little about the back story behind this book. I don’t mean plot, but instead how it came about and the significant milestone it represents in my life.

Due to management lawbreaking fuckwittage and criminal harassment and victimisation where I worked back in 2005-2007 I was left with suicidal depression and post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). I was vindicated in the legal process in the end, but was still left with the ongoing symptoms of PTSD. One of these problems through the period was that depression really robs you of motivation and creativity. I was pretty much unable to write for a couple of years. That, for a writer, is quite a hardship I can tell you.

So nothing got done. My writing career effectively went on hiatus in late 2005, although books written before then and finished at the time were subsequently published. I wrote nothing except a diary that followed, in part, the unbelievable criminal activities of the management where I was working.

In early 2007 I was illegally fired (mostly for having the audacity to complain about their discrimination and harassment of me and for taking out an Employment Tribunal against them). I must say, it was such a liberating experience as it made my legal case watertight, and I felt free of those idiots. However it was late 2007 before I felt well enough to sit down and try to write again. The piece that came together was just a short piece about an assassin heading out on a plane to follow a target with a view to killing him. It was an odd piece, reminiscent of 50s style detective stories. But it broke the writer’s block. Later on I reworked that story and it became in early 2008 the opening for “The Atlantic Connection”. From those beginnings the book grew as I recovered the gift of writing again. It was such an enjoyable experience as a result.

By the time I had finished the first draft I felt back on form, and launched into several short stories before taking on the second draft of the book. The book is a milestone because it is the first major writing project I have managed to complete since all the rubbish from where I worked. From here things just get better. I have never been this productive, and have quite a few new ideas to work through. Several are short stories, but there are a couple of book ideas in the pipeline.

So there we are; a milestone. 2008 has turned into a pivotal year, in much the same way that 2004 was with the completion then of two complete books within one twelve month period (“Daytrippers” and “Orb of Arawaan”). In between I like to try and forget about now. However maybe I should hand it to those idiots: you made me a very strong person as I learnt to fight back against dickheads who think they can push people around and get away with it. I’ve not lost a ‘fight’ yet (though I must point out I use ‘fight’ in the sense of a legal ‘fight’). It also eventually made me find a far better job that pays nearly twice what their rubbish wages were.

And that’s the story behind “The Atlantic Connection”