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|title=The Interview: Bookbag Talks To Gerlad Gerald Wixey

GW: Characters I’ve always lived in a lovely South Oxfordshire market town, on the edge of the Berkshire downs. My small town trilogy was heavily influenced by characters locally, the wide lawns and narrow minds morality that dominates often dominate market towns. My father had a pub in town for the first twenty years of my life and it always seemed to me that pleasure was everywhere and common sense nowhere to be seen. It also explains a lot about my socialising habits. The pub was a typical small towns town boozer, rough at times and I watched these, mainly men gather every evening after work and listen to their arguments and their prejudices, of which there were many. This is where I became so intrigued by the politics of relationships. Anything from the dynamics of children running wild in the playground, to the more perfidious aspects of adult liaisons. Especially the darkly illicit world of lovers, crooks, hypocrites and gossips. The pecking orders, who was top of the pile and often, more interestingly, who was at the bottom.

GW: Talking to my uncle who ran an illegal drinking club in London just after the war. I've The rewards could be huge, but they always came with the caveat that this was a time of black market, extortion and high murder rates. I’ve heavily researched that period as well, especially post-war London. The imagery comes from the film noir of that period, smoky clubs, dangerous women and paranoid men.

GW: My dear old uncle, a lounge lizard and a cad. Also I watched him in action and he had a supernatural ability to appear alongside a woman as if it was an act of chance. Which of course, it wasn’t. Men wanted to be like him, women just wanted him. Jack, who was based on a dear old friend who was in military intelligence during the war. A pedant, fount of all knowledge, a drinker and good company. Finally my mother who played the piano in the pub and unlike her offspring, had the voice of an angel.

GW: Two more novels involving the above, both finished ''Small Town Nocturne'' sees Stuart and looking Jack involved in the middle of a huge conspiracy involving council officials, illegal property deals and a youth club run by a man with a taste for youngsters at the lower end of the teenage scale. ''Nothing But The Night'' involves a local Police Inspector and the fractured relationship he has with his daughter. This is less of a thriller and more of a decent publishing dealpsychological drama.

GW: Am I disciplined? I write because I'm neurotically obsessed about my craft. It moves me, in that same extreme way that you get excited as a young man. It heightens my emotions, keeps me awake at night and when I do eventually sleep, it bursts into my dreams and wakes me up. So yes, I’m disciplined, I start writing when my wife leaves for work at 6.15 and do four hours on the bounce. I try for 1500 words which would be a good day, mostly I probably average 1000. I play around with what I've I’ve produced for another hour, then walk my dogs and discuss my next days work with them.

GW: I was employed by the Atomic Energy Research Establishment, purely on energy production. There was a bad accident at a weapons producing plant nearby and they moved production to my workshop. This was the time of the cruise missiles which were housed just a few miles from my home After a long talk with my wife (, young family + mortgage!) to consider, I told my employers that I refused to use my many skills manufacturing warheads. Within hours, I was moved out and consigned to a backwater. Because the switch in production was both illegal and morally wrong, I contacted the Observer and after . The risk was obvious, if caught breaching the official secrets act, a prison sentence loomed large. After a few meetings with their journalists they ran the story. I was immensely proud of my stance and as everyone knows, the land based cruise missiles have long gone. (not because of me I hasten to add!)

GW: A deal with a leading publisherCritical acclaim.

GW: I have 4 much more titles and almost ready to go. Two of which are not thrillers. Both are very modern love stories, dark, intense and the opposite of Mills and Boon. I hesitate to class them as erotica. The modern conception of erotica is badly written filth. Mine are both well written filth and I'm almost ready to begin the ! The submission processbegins soon and I’m ever hopeful.

You can read more about Gerlad Wixey [[:Category:Gerlad Gerald Wixey|here]].

[[Category:Interviews|Wixey, Gerald]] [[Category:Gerlad Gerald Wixey]]