1. What is the first book that made you cry?

 Wow - That's going back a long way. I'd have to say either The Talisman by Stephen King/Peter Straub or CS Lewis's Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe. I don't want to give away spoilers but readers will know exactly the parts I'm referring to

2. How long, on average, does it take you to write a book?

My writing fits around an already hectic life, as a result Overstrike took about 2 years to plan and draft and a further 2-3 years to redraft and edit.

3. How do you select the names of your characters?

 It's a combination of factors, Some because they feel right,  Some because they hide an easter-egg either socially, from popular-culture or etymologically. That's in the polish though - and names may change a few times. Most recently, it took me all of a train-ride to London to decide on the surname of character in book 2 - with a lot of characters, that's a lot of research.

4. What creature do you consider your "spirit animal" to be?

That's easy - A goat.

Why? - For lots of reasons, most of which are pure intuition, but a goat seems apt. I've never going to be the coolest animal on the block, or the fastest. But given a chance I can typically hold my ground, am pretty stubborn and I can chew my way through most challenges that I set myself.

5. What are your top 5 favorite movies?

 Probably oldies:

* It's a Wonderful life (1946)

* The Godfather parts I & II (1972/1974)

* Rocky (1976)

* Star Wars (Ep. IV) (1977)

* Moon (2009)

 6. If you were the last person on Earth, what would you do?

 I'd write it all down - All of it.

I'd tell the story of how it happened.

7. What fictional character would you want to be friends with in real life?

 God.

 Jokes aside - I believe that there is a wonder in the universe that we, as a species, are unlikely to even begin comprehending in a million lifetimes. If you liken that to God then the understanding we have of that concept starts to look like fiction.

8. Do you have any advice for aspiring writers?

 Yes, absolutely.

 OK - in no particular order - Ten points:

1) Set realistic goals and realise these are likely to be almost glacial in timeline. When I set out to write Overstrike I realised that I didn't have that much time between other commitments, therefore I did a "back of an envelope calculation" that even to get to a first draft would take about 2 years.

When it feels like you're getting nowhere - refer back to this.

2) Be stubborn - don't give up. You are an unknown and learning your craft.

3) Write for, and be true to, yourself - no-one else.

4) Research what the differences between traditional and self publishing mean to you. for instance if you want to be in a high-street bookstore. Self-publishing is a barrier to this.

5) Get your name out with a few short stories. Having one accepted is food of the soul.

6) Avoid distractions when writing, use something that only has words on, even if this looks like something out of the 80's.

7) Make technology work for you. Use the cloud. Always have your work in progress in your pocket so that you can add even just ten words when you think of them. This might be while you wait in a foyer for between taking kids to numbers activities, but make it possible that you can move your WIP on even just a little bit. Eventually these grains of sand will make a mountain.

8) Multi-task and use your dead time. mail your draft to your kindle and have the device read it to you while you're stuck in traffic. Listen back to your work to force yourself to use a different part of your brain.

9) Don't be tempted to take short-cuts. There is no standard format for submissions to publishers. It will feel like every submission is starting again.

10) Oh - and join Twitter a lot, lot earlier than I did - The WritingCommunity can genuinely be very supportive.

9. What book do you wish you had written?

 This is hard one. In a lot of ways I'd say the brutal honesty of Bukowski's Post Office or Factotum still make me want to pack up and go home. In a sense I'd love to write at that level. Whether I'd want to live the life that led to that is another matter. In general I love books that have more than one layer to them, books that say something. From that perspective I'd love to have the foresight to write something like Orwell's Animal Farm. With Overstrike, I'm trying to say something - In a lot of ways I think I've succeeded and it's been a labour of love over about 5 years. However in a lot of ways, I'm fallible. So I'd have to say I wish I'd written the version of Overstrike that future-me could maybe write in 20 years time.

10. Tell us 10 fun facts about yourself! 

 Man, 10 fun facts! - OK - not sure how fun these are but here goes:

1) The house that I live in is believed to predate the Mayflower and Shakespeare.

2) I'm a Reiki master, meditation guide and practice Qi Gong.

3) I'm not very graceful but have studied Jitsu, Aikido, Escrima and Karate.

4) I briefly toyed with academia and hold a PhD in hard sums.

5) I consider myself spiritual but at the time of writing, I have never seen a ghost.

6) I have spoken about technology at multiple worldwide conferences and have written technical non-fiction as Chris Angus whilst working in India.

7) Following a horrific car crash in 2010 I now have an impressive collection of internal metal-work.

8) I play multiple instruments, used to play keyboards in the UK prog-rock band This other Eden and have busked the accordion at the Montreux Jazz festival and on the strip in Las Vegas.

9) I find bananas the most interesting of all the fruits and one day may write a book on this. For instance - did you know that bananas are ever so slightly radioactive?