Featured Interview With Mark Hibbett
Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
I’m originally from Peterborough, but now live in East Village in London – it’s the former Athletes’ Village from the 2012 Olympics, and it’s an amazing place to live. We can see the stadium from our living room window, and our flat was where the athletes from San Marino stayed. We lived in nearby Leytonstone during the games, and loved it all so much that we decided to move there!
At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
I’ve always loved sitting in a quiet corner and getting lost in a book, and have written for as long as I remember. I pretty much stopped in my twenties and thirties though, as I got more interested in writing and performing music (there are a lot more chances to drink beer and meet girls at gigs than there are sitting at home in front of a computer) so it’s been lovely to get back to it now I’m in my forties. It’s also a lot easier on the knees than jumping around in front of an audience.
Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
I’ve always loved the Nigel Molesworth books by Geoffrey Willans and Ronald Searle, and though my spelling is (hopefully) better than Nigel’s, the spirit of bemused anarchy has inspired me in life and indeed in art. I also love Jane Austen – I had to read her books at school and then at University, and thought they were dreadfully boring. It was only after i’d finished college that I realised that her novels are comedies, and that she’s basically taking the piss out of rich people. When I read them with that in mind I thought they were fantastic!
Tell us a little about your latest book?
‘Storm House’ is a comedy science fiction story about a bunch of people who work for a small museum in London, but who are also secretly the UK’s last stand against monsters, aliens and general weirdness. It’s very much in the tradition of Douglas Adams and has, I think, some decent jokes and some very loveable characters. I like them all so much that I’ve already started writing them a sequel!
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