Saturday, 25 November 2017
We Have Lost the Chihuahuas by Paul Mathews
Release Date: 28th November 2017
Series: We have Lost #4
Series: We have Lost #4
Genres: [Genre] ([Age])
Thrilled to be hosting Paul Mathews on the blog today with an author interview. Lets find out about the book first!
BOOK BLURB
London, 2046. The British Republic has a new First Lady. She’s Californian, ‘in-your-face, for sure’ and she’s got big plans for a Buckingham Palace refurb. When her three Chihuahuas go missing, one man is determined to avoid getting dragged into it all. His name is Pond. Howie Pond – presidential spokesperson, retired secret agent and cat lover.
Meanwhile, Howie’s wife Britt is handed her first assignment as a National Security and Intelligence Service rookie – to solve the mystery of the missing canine trio.
Will Howie manage to slope off to the pub before he can be roped into help? Will Britt unmask the dognapper and grab the glory? Find out, in the latest, crazy comedy-thriller from dog-loving British author Paul Mathews.
I’ve had a creative streak
for as long as I can remember. I produced my own comics when I was a kid –
planning & writing the stories and drawing the characters. (Unfortunately,
I threw out all the copies of ‘Walt’s Weekly’ – I would love to read them
today.) I also wrote a couple of choose-your-own-adventure books as a kid,
which I loaned to school friends. I worked in PR /
communications for 20 years and that required the ability to write and edit
well, so it helped improve my writing skills.
If they inspire people to
read more, write something themselves, or just take life less seriously, that’s
great. But I primarily see my ‘We Have Lost’ comedy-thriller series as pure
entertainment – something to bring a smile to people’s faces when they’re
sitting on a sofa, commuter train on sunbed.
Marvin the Paranoid Android from
the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy – his depressive take on life is just so
comically British. Only an Englishman could have created a robot that is so permanently
cheesed off with the universe!
My basic rule is no blood,
gore or people dying. There’s enough of that in real life.
BOOK BLURB
London, 2046. The British Republic has a new First Lady. She’s Californian, ‘in-your-face, for sure’ and she’s got big plans for a Buckingham Palace refurb. When her three Chihuahuas go missing, one man is determined to avoid getting dragged into it all. His name is Pond. Howie Pond – presidential spokesperson, retired secret agent and cat lover.
Meanwhile, Howie’s wife Britt is handed her first assignment as a National Security and Intelligence Service rookie – to solve the mystery of the missing canine trio.
Will Howie manage to slope off to the pub before he can be roped into help? Will Britt unmask the dognapper and grab the glory? Find out, in the latest, crazy comedy-thriller from dog-loving British author Paul Mathews.
AUTHOR INTERVIEW
1. Did
your writing skills come naturally or did you have to attend courses to help
you develop that creative side?
And before turning to
novels, I wrote both short- and full-length comedy plays. During that time, I
did a lot of research about story structure, characters, plotting etc. And
writing plays taught me how to write good dialogue, which is a central part of
all my books. In fact, dialogue is my favourite part of writing because it
flows so much easier.
2. What books/authors inspired your writing
journey?
Douglas Adams’ Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy series is pretty much my one and
only literary influence. In tribute, I include lots of references to the number
42. In ‘We Have Lost The Chihuahuas’, Howie and Britt have to visit apartment
number 42 and this leads to various other, 42-related memories.
Indirectly, the James Bond novels
influence the series because Howie is always comparing himself to 007. However,
I’ve only seen the films – not read any of the books (sorry Mr Fleming!).
As a comedy writer, I’m probably more
influenced by the TV sitcoms I enjoyed in my youth, such as Blackadder, Home to Roost and Men Behaving Badly.
3. How does it feel to know that your books
inspire others? Whether readers with a response to the content or other
aspiring authors?
4. Do you have any writing rituals? What
are they?
I try to write a chapter in a day (about
2,000 words), when I am in full novel-writing mode and then I stop – unless I’m
nearing the end of the novel and then I might squeeze out a few more words. I
do this Monday to Friday and then take a timeout at the weekend. It might sound
a lot like ‘real’ work, but it’s not – I enjoy every minute. You just have to
make sure you have other things in your life, such as travel and other hobbies,
so writing doesn’t become an obsession.
5. If you could have written any literary
character, who would it be and why?
6. Within your genre, is there a subject
that you would never write about? What? Why?
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