Mike Hogan

I threw the towel in on the everyday commuter grind in September 2011; in fact, at that time I was wading or paddling a canoe to work through the floods, just as friends in New York, the Philippines, the UK and many other places have had to do more recently.
I managed to get over the hurdle of restructuring my day, so that I don't just get... more »

I threw the towel in on the everyday commuter grind in September 2011; in fact, at that time I was wading or paddling a canoe to work through the floods, just as friends in New York, the Philippines, the UK and many other places have had to do more recently.
I managed to get over the hurdle of restructuring my day, so that I don't just get up, stagger to the pub, then come home and sleep, by writing a set number of words a day. I usually set my goal in arrears the day after, as hitting my target is easier that way. The work ethic is a little more laid-back in here in Thailand.
Nevertheless, I'm now a traditionally-published and self-published author who carries a Kindle instead of a briefcase. I write humour, but I find myself in other genres because people are basically funny whatever they are doing. I've been guilty of a trio of Sherlock Holmes pastiches in which he and Watson team up with thirteen-year-old Winston Churchill (I can hear true Sherlockians - of which I am proud to be one - cringing). The first is just out in pb and Kindle (yay!).
Some short stories, and one other book, are also on Kindle. Penny for the Guy Mr Olivier is a humorous coming-of-age story set in and around the Old Vic theatre in London and the working class area that surrounded it in 1963. Another novel, The Neon Martini, describes how a cocktail olive gets through the US president's security, and a boy with a grudge takes over the key to the nation's nuclear defenses; it is on hold while I search for an American to check my writing for stray Britishisms.
My favourite writer is Patrick O'Brian - after the Bard. I am a fierce Sherlock Holmes fan, and an avid reader of anything on Ancient Rome and the Royal Navy « less