Published Bestsellers

How you can follow in writer's footsteps WHILE working as a financial controller in Leicester, Philip Neale dreamed of becoming a published crime author. But he knew that thousands of would-be writers shared that ambition and that most would be rejected, their precious work left to gather dust on the shelf at home. But the accountant's persistence paid off and, in 2008, his novel A Ticket to Tewkesbury provided the breakthrough. He's gone on to publish four more books with the latest addition to his bibliography, Full Marks, released earlier this month. Leicester, like the rest of the East Midlands where he has always lived and worked, remains an inspiration – his serial killer novel Two Little Dicky Birds opens with the murder of a prostitute on the streets of Leicester.

Interview with Author Neal James, an insightful discussion of his latest book . Give us a quick introduction on yourself and your book. I am Neal James, UK author, and I began writing in 2006. By day I am an accountant, and all of my writing to date has been completed in whatever spare time I have outside of that employment. Since 2008 I have through Pneuma Springs Publishing released three novels and an anthology. In 2013, my fourth novel 'Full Marks' will join the growing portfolio. What inspired you to write your first book? I had been writing short stories on a couple if US writing sites, but one of them seemed to have the potential for a much longer piece of work. That was 'A Ticket to Tewkesbury' (ISBN9781905809349), and followed the love story between a soldier returning from France in 1945 and the nurse whom he met at a recuperation hospital in Kent. The novel itself evolved into a spy thriller and the chase for a set of highly secret documents.

Full Marks | Crime Detective Neal James, author of a new crime novel has been featured in the Ripley & Heanor News. A Heanor author has published a new crime novel about a detective fighting to clear his name while investigating a powerful conspiracy.

A FRIEND in need is a blasted nuisance," so goes the corrupted version of the saying. What the phrase in its original form does is to turn this colloquialism around. "A friend in need is a friend indeed," is a statement that the ones who stand by you in times of trouble are those whom you can truly regard as friends. With this in mind I failed a good friend completely through self-interest when I was needed, and the real shame of the matter was that a quiet word from me in the appropriate ears would probably have stopped the whole thing before it really had the chance to get going. By that time the bullying, for that is what it had become, had spread throughout the school and I could well have stopped it from even germinating – I didn't.

The first arrival had appeared as a steadily brightening light in the eastern sky, and had approached with an increasing intensity over a period of almost two weeks. To the general population it had seemed at first nothing more than the usual amount of activity within the solar system, caused by space debris which would inevitably burn out in the upper atmosphere as it approached. There would be a brief and spectacular light show, and then everyone would go back to whatever it was that they had been doing before its arrival. This time however, it was different. The object slowed its rate of approach, and came to rest at a distance of about one thousand miles from the surface. It was still too far away for the amateur astrologists amongst the population to make out any details, but all governments’ resources had been trained upon it since surveillance satellites orbiting the planet had detected its signature more than a month earlier. At a hastily convened conference, leaders of the

The Plot James Poynter is a young man out for revenge. Set up for a crime which he did not commit, and by someone whom he felt he could trust implicitly, his sole focus becomes one of retribution against his former employers. His future at Brodsworth Textiles disintegrated one Friday evening prior to his wedding, when conscientiousness overtook him and he returned to the factory after work to rectify an error in his paperwork. What he discovered that night changed his life forever and set off a chain of events which sent him spiralling downwards, and out of a job which had promised so much. Murder, deception, drug trafficking and embezzlement combine to derail the futures of everyone connected to the company, and set off a chase for the man at the centre of a plot so intricately woven, that the forces of law and order in several countries are thwarted at every turn.

At last, back home. The rail journey up from London had been the worst he could ever remember. Stop and start all the way with one delay following another and precious little of anything edible in the buffet car. Three and a half hours to travel 200 miles on what was supposed to be a high speed railway after a business meeting which seemed to go on forever. Never mind, he’d already phoned his wife Jane to tell her of the delay until 7.30pm, and she would be waiting in the car for him. They would soon be off home for supper and a relaxing evening in front of the TV. James Michael Taylor was not one of life’s high flyers, feeling content to be one of the cogs in the corporate machine and happy to draw a monthly salary for a fairly routine set of regular tasks. He and Jane would always have liked a little more in the way of life’s comforts, but they were by no means hard up and now that the children were off their hands there was money at the end of the month these days instead of the

By Neal James   "The body, or what remained of it, had been found by a dog walker out for an early morning stroll. He had parked his car close to Derbyshire’s Mapperley Reservoir in Shipley Country Park, and let his Jack Russell terrier out of the back of the vehicle, watching her disappear on one of her customary forages around Shipley Lane. Having seen the dog stop abruptly, sniffing the air, ears erect, he was surprised when she vanished into the trees to the right, instead of following their customary course left, and up to the wooded area encompassing the remains of what had been the Miller-Mundy estate. “Where’s the body?” DS Fletcher crushed the stub of the cigarette beneath his shoe after the disapproving look from one of the park rangers..." Read entire story   A published collection of short stories by Neal James titled 'Short Stories - Volume One' is available in the following eBook formats:   Short Stories - Volume One - Kobo ePub   Sh

Neal James will be signing copies of his four published books. Date: Saturday, 22 September 2012 Time: 10.30am Address: Waterstone's Derby St. Peters, 78-80 St Peter's Street, Derby DE1 1SR Further details: Tel: 0843 290 8273 E-mail: manager@derby.waterstones.com Site: http://www.waterstones.com If you are unable to attend an event. Waterstone's can often reserve signed copies. Please contact the host shop for details. Neal James is the author of four books: 'A Ticket to Tewkesbury' , 'Short Stories - Volume One' , 'Two Little Dicky Birds' and 'Threads of Deceit' . These novels are available on Amazon Kindle and Google Play. Soon to be released on Kobo. We wish Neal James the very best with this events.

Neal James on Andy Potter show, BBC Radio Derby. Neal James will be at the studios of BBC Radio Derby, on Thursday 20 September 2012 for a radio interview with Andy Potter, ahead of his book signing at Waterstones on the 22nd September 2012. The Andy Potter show starts at 1pm. Listen to Neal James on BBC Radio Derby – 95.3 FM, 96 FM, 104.5 FM. Neal James is the author of four books: 'A Ticket to Tewkesbury' , 'Short Stories - Volume One' , 'Two Little Dicky Birds' and 'Threads of Deceit' . These novels are available on Amazon Kindle and Google Play. Soon to be released on Kobo. We wish Neal James the very best with this events.

Interview snippet Q1) Tell us a bit about your books. I have four books already published, and A Ticket to Tewkesbury (ISBN 9781905809349) was the first, in 2008.  It begins as a love story, back in 1946, and is brought to the present day by the discovery of an old letter written, but not posted.  The story then takes you into the dark, murky waters of espionage, as competing parties vie for possession of a set of secret files brought back from Germany by a soldier at the end of WWII. Short Stories Volume One (ISBN 9781905809608) , released in 2009, is an anthology encompassing horror, crime, romance, science-fiction, humour fantasy and adventure.  There are 36 pieces varying in length from 1,000 to 3,000 words. Two Little Dicky Birds (ISBN 9781905809936), 2010’s novel, tells the story of the search for a serial killer who, between 1975 and 1992, terrorized England and took the lives of 18 innocent victims.  It also tells the tale of the rise through the ranks of PC Paul Townle

Neal James will be signing copies of his four published books. Date: Saturday, 01 September 2012 Time: 10.30am Address: Waterstone's Leeds, 93-97 Albion Street, Leeds LS1 5JS Further details: Tel: 0843 290 8443 E-mail: manager@leeds-93albionstreet.waterstones.com Site: http://www.waterstones.com If you are unable to attend an event. Waterstone's can often reserve signed copies. Please contact the host shop for details. Neal James is the author of four books: 'A Ticket to Tewkesbury' , 'Short Stories - Volume One' , 'Two Little Dicky Birds' and 'Threads of Deceit' . These novels are available on Amazon Kindle and Google Play. Soon to be released on Kobo. We wish Neal James the very best with this events.

Interview snippet Could you share a little about yourself and what led you to become a writer? I suppose it goes back to my schooldays. I always liked writing stories, and English was one of my favourite subjects. When a short story competition cropped up in 2007, I decided to give it a shot and one of my submissions ended up in the top ten. It didn’t win – that would have been expecting too much – but it gave me the confidence to push on, and I found a couple of writing sites. It just seemed to go from there. I’m 60 this year, have been married for 36 years and have two grown up children. I’ve lived in Derbyshire all of my life, and try to write as much of the locality as I can into my work. I’m the son of a collier who came through the state education system, became an accountant and this profession has given me the freedom to write whilst bringing in an income. Do you write full time? How much of your life is set aside for writing? No – I wouldn’t be able to bring in en

Q1) What do you like most about writing? What do you dislike (if anything)? The freedom that it gives to my imagination. As Neal James, I can step into another personality and write the kinds of things that Philip Neale, the accountant, could never even contemplate. Q2) What inspires you to write? The challenge of doing something completely outside of my normal routine. It’s like being on holiday without ever leaving the comfort of your familiar surroundings. Q3) Do you find time to read, if so what are you reading at the moment? Reading is another one of the major sources of inspiration. Just seeing what other writers are doing is a massive pointer as to where I could be. I never copy what I write, but the ideas which come out of reading, say, another crime novel always set me thinking. I’m reading ‘A Place of Execution’ by Val McDermid; it’s a crime novel set in Derbyshire where I live. Q4) Which author(s) has/have had the biggest influence on your writing? Crime – Ja

Q 1. You’re making an elevator pitch to your favourite movie director. Who is it? Which of your books are you going to pitch? Who do you envisage playing the lead roles? And what are you going to say? This has to be Spielberg, and I’d pitch ‘The Rings of Darelius’. It’s a sci-fi epic still in manuscript form, and I’d give him the ‘heads up’ on its publication. Lead roles would have to be people like Patrick Stewart as Admiral Charles Devereaux, Daniel Ratcliffe as John Bains, the hero, Michael Dorm as Maddran Chakk – it could go on forever, but I’d need actors experienced in the fantasy/sci-fi genres. What would I say? Well, bearing in mind that he’s heard it all before, and that I would literally have minutes to do the thing, it could be something like 'Remember when you were an unknown and looking or that big break? Here’s my chance to pitch mine to you.’ Read the full interview Neal James is the author of four books: 'A Ticket to Tewkesbury' , 'Short Stories -

Bringing you exclusive interviews with authors featured in the Book Savvy Newsletter. Our Guest is Neal James, the author of three books: 'A Ticket to Tewkesbury', 'Short Stories - Volume One' and 'Two Little Dicky Birds'. Neal is the author of three books: 'A Ticket to Tewkesbury', 'Short Stories - Volume One' and 'Two Little Dicky Birds', he is a member of the Crime Writers Association. Enjoy the interview. Q1. Can you tell us a little about yourself and your book Two Little Dicky Birds? I am an accountant of 30 plus years, and came to writing quite late. Two Little Dicky Birds is a tale of bloodlust and deception. It encompasses the sheer evil of a man so tied up in his own psychoses that he is compelled to follow an almost predetermined path. The reader is pulled from pillar to post as multiple plotlines converge inexorably in a chase for a serial killer across the Atlantic at a frenetic rate, and the breathless pace