Featured Interview With JOHN DONKEYPLONK
Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
I live in the UK. I was born and raised in the London area but now live further north, in Sheffield, and I love it there. I have done a whole variety of jobs in my time, but the main one was 25 years in the UK civil service. I retired last autumn, but did do a comeback gig as a Father Christmas in a shopping centre for a couple of months!
I have two sons who live in London, and a stepdaughter who is at University in Leicester, but no pets.
At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
I was always a keen reader, right from the age of about 7 or so, I used to like adventure stories, but as a teenager, moved on to SF.
As a civil servant, I did enormous amounts of writing – official reports, guidance, briefing for Ministers, the lot. At that stage I had a couple of ideas for books but I never got round to doing anything about it, because I had a ready outlet for my need to write. It was not until I stopped doing that job that I realised how important writing was to me. I was asked to edit a book about Ugandan politics and that whetted my appetite. I started to write in earnest two years ago.
Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
Jasper Fforde. He does what I am trying to do – introduce the absurd into the everyday and see how the everyday copes with it. I like his quirkiness, but you can find quirkiness where you least expect it, it doesn’t have to be futuristic or surreal. I recently read “The Sisters Brothers” by Patrick de Witt, which I would describe as a quirky Western; and loved it! So I have more of a favourite feel than a favourite genre.
I have read widely and I like to think that all the good stuff has inspired me to a degree at least.
Tell us a little about your latest book?
The book that I have just released on Amazon is called “Prepare for the Zargian Delegation!” It is a satirical romp through the public service mindset, in which I use the impending arrival of a delegation from the Planet Zarg to poke fun at the gimmickry, pretentiousness and back-biting of the diverse group of public servants who are asked to draw up preparation plans. Whilst set in the UK I think it will appeal to anyone with a quirky or irreverent sense of humour, but perhaps in particular to current or former public servants, or anyone who has experienced the “groupthink” of a large corporation, I ran an early version past some ex-colleagues of mine and they found it both hilarious and alarmingly accurate!
It was quite quick to write, because I didn’t really have to do any research – it all came from my memory or my imagination. I suppose it took me about six months to write and six months to edit and publish.
Connect with the Author on their Websites and Social media profiles
Leave a Reply