Featured Interview With Steve Hill
Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
I was born round the corner from John Lennon before the Beatles were famous. After a varied career in retail, outdoor pursuits and education my wife and I moved to Brittany in 2005 to concentrate on writing more and working less. Of course life got in the way and things didn’t quite work out according to plan. We made the classic mistake of buying a house that was too big, too old and required way too much renovation. Fortunately we managed to sell it and buy something that gave us back our free time and isn’t a money pit.
Presently I teach part time at the local University, teaching English to Journalism students, which I really enjoy. Leaving the rest of the time for writing.
The hardest part of living over here is being so far from family and friends.
The final piece in our domestic jigsaw is an unruly dog called Floyd.
At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
I suppose I always love reading. As a child it was Enid Blyton’s children’s adventures. I loved the freedom the children enjoyed without parental influence. It was Lord of the Rings that led me on to reading the Norse Sagas I suppose that inspired me to write about different worlds. Very different to what I’m writing about at the moment.
I remember being about fifteen and writing in the evenings in the back room. I was always too shy to share my writing with anyone at that time but every night my dad would bring me a mug of coffee at nine o’clock. It’s the little things like that showed their love and support.
Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
Most of the time I read non fiction histories. I love reading about the Classical world, but I do binge read thrillers. I love Jo Nesbo’s books but also weird stuff like Jasper Fforde – I guess it’s appeals to the inner Blyton reader in me.
One of the things I love about ebooks is you discover new authors all the time. You never know what the next click will bring.
Tell us a little about your latest book?
Concentric Darkness is the second book in the Annie Taylor series. It starts two years after the events of the first book, Breath Thief.
The plot develops and expands some of the issues originally explored in Breath Thief. Many of the characters reappear but also introduces a whole new cast.
When I finished Breath Thief , and I mean even as I was saving the document a voice bounce inside my head in Tilly’s voice ‘I don’t want to be Holly anymore…’ I couldn’t get rid of it and the more I explored why she would be saying that the plot took shape.
Writing Concentric Darkness was amazing, it only took a year to write the original narrative, then another five to refine, edit and overlay some of the themes. Rereading it just before publishing I realised that in many ways it’s quite autobiographical – but exactly how I’m keeping a secret.