Featured Interview With John Pendleton
Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
John Pendleton is the pen name of John Cowpe, a former newspaper editor who had a 39-year career in journalism and public relations.
Born in the English holiday resort of Skegness in Lincolnshire, John edited a series of local newspapers, most recently for Johnston Press.
His fourth novel, “The Men in the Marsh”, begins with the dramatic events of October 12, 1984, when an IRA bomb exploded at the Grand Hotel, Brighton, in an attempt to assassinate Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and members of her Cabinet. A young entrepreneur leaves the Grand Hotel minutes before the bomb goes off but the event returns to haunt him many years later.
John’s previous books are three novels “Hector’s Revenge”,“Ill Winds” and “All For Blood”, and “Skegness Past”, a mainly photographic record of his home town.
John, who still lives n Skegness, is married to Wendy and has two grown-up children, Colin and Trudi, and four grandchildren. His interests include politics, reading, angling, tennis and going to the gym.
At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
I was fascinated by books as soon as I learnt to read. The first book which really got me hooked was an “As told to the children” version of Homer’s “The Iliad”. From the age of about seven or eight I started to write stories, mainly my own versions of Greek myths and some tales about a fictional criminal called Harry Droner.,
Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
My favourite authors are Charles Dickens, Anthony Trollope, Thomas Hardy, Jane Austen, D. H. Lawrence, Evelyn Waugh and Kate Atkinson. As you can see from that list, my preferred genre is literary classics. I am inspired by the insight into human nature and the humour in the writings of Dickens, Trollope, Austen and Waugh, by the passion and innermost yearnings portrayed by Lawrence and Hardy, and by the clever plots of Kate Atkinson.
Tell us a little about your latest book?
On October 12, 1984, an IRA bomb explodes at the Grand Hotel, Brighton, in a bid to assassinate UK Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.
Graham Robinson, an ambitious young entrepreneur, who is attending the Conservative Party Conference, leaves the hotel minutes before the explosion.
The Men in the Marsh traces Robinson’s life, loves and politics, leading up to dramatic events which have haunting echoes of his 1984 experience.
Much of the novel is set in the fictional east coast holiday resort of Sanderholme. It has strong elements of mystery, crime, romance and humour, a mixture which typifies John Pendleton’s work.
Published by Blossom Spring Publishing, “Hector’s Revenge” is available from Amazon as a paperback and as an e-book on Kindle.
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