Introducing the first of [hopefully] many author interviews here on Substack!
To kick things off, let’s hear from Adam Shardlow, author of Juvie, Stigma and The Amazing Adventures of Lady Thrillington.
Adam, tell me a little about yourself.
Hi, I’m Adam Shardlow, originally from Nottingham. I’ve lived in Edinburgh for the last eighteen years, a city of mystery with a strong pedigree of authors and writing. During the day, I work for an Academic Publisher based out of Switzerland, but at night, I plot and write.
When did your writing journey begin?
I was thinking about this recently, having rediscovered a short novel crudely stapled and illustrated by my small, innocent hands. It is a fantasy story, pages long, about myself and three friends on a quest to save a doomed world. I must have been six or seven at the time.
At school, I wrote and directed plays, made short films and worked for the school newspaper, which I continued to do at University and then briefly as a writer for the BBC Comedy panel show Call My Bluff. So, the answer is from the moment I could write.
Have you always wanted to be a writer?
Definitely, but at the same time, I’ve always understood the chance of supporting myself full-time through my writing to be almost zero. The industry has changed so much, and with the growth of online, the amount of content available is vast, and writers are not afforded any kind of revenue comparable to the hard work they put in. Over the years, I have had some success but never close enough to capitalise on it so that I could give up the day job.
Have you completed any novels?
My first work, The Missing, was published in 2009 and is now out of print. However, I have a few books available on Amazon, including a YA Sci-fi:
Juvie - A town stranded in the Green. Isolated. Ruled by the Laws of the Governors. A community reeling from pain and tragedy, where nothing is taken for granted. Not a great place to grow up, not a great place to be a “juvie.”
Its follow-up, Stigma - Life in the Enclave, is hard and brutal. A life lived in squalor, the decrepit block houses cramped and unsanitary, the people slowly starving; each day is nothing less than a fight for survival. Sarah thought she understood. She is Drose, tattooed with the Stigma Servitude.
And a Steampunk epic, The Amazing Adventures of Lady Thrillington (as Havelock James) - Welcome to the gas-lit, fogbound alleys of a London that never was and never will be. Lady Thrillington, locksport and Victorian heroine, is drawn out of retirement to clear her name against a foe she thought long dead. A cursed diamond is missing from the Tower of London, and Detective Inspector Carter is convinced he knows who could be to blame. Aided and abetted by her stoic manservant Jeffers, Lady Thrillington must battle aquatic monsters that lurk deep below the city and a dead Egyptian King before going up against evil at the very heart of the empire. An adventure for the modern age, full of mechanical curiosities, elektric golems, steam-powered stallions and mechanoid rats.
What are you working on right now?
I’m close to finishing the first two books in an ongoing dark thriller series set in Edinburgh. I have been drawn to some of the stranger stories that inhabit the most haunted city in the world, utilising real places and urban myths. The first book is:
Ghost Light: Edinburgh, where the past leaks into the present and memories hide in the shadows. Harry Eames, a man haunted by his father's death, searches for the missing daughter of a local crime boss and far-right supporter. A gruesome discovery at the Festival Theatre sets off a chain of events that results in violent retribution by those responsible. Reliable DCI John Dee investigates but finds his case stymied by religious sensitivity and supernatural sightings. The two cases appear linked to an older mystery and the death of a famous magician not once but twice. Welcome to the Remembering City.
And the second book, Water Born: When an old friend asks for his help, Harry Eames is reluctant, particularly when he discovers links with organised crime and a killer who will stop at nothing to protect his identity. At the same time, a body washes up, missing part of a vital organ, just in time for DI Sinclair’s first major investigation. John Dee, working the cold case unit, is drawn to an old man suffering from dementia who admits to murder, but is it real or imagined and how are both cases linked to a strange gothic house, long vanished and the woman in the water? The Remembering City holds the clues.
I’m currently looking for an agent or publisher, so if anyone reading this is interested, please do get in touch.
What's been your biggest challenge as a writer?
Getting my work promoted across social media and all the other platforms so that it’s seen. It takes a lot of time and effort to build an audience, keep them informed of what you are working on (often a multi-year journey) and turn that audience into sales. All of this takes me away from writing, which is where I want to spend my time.
Which online platforms help support your journey?
It used to be Twitter (X), but that seems to have been killed. There was a good writing community there for a while, but it’s been bullied out of existence by that megalomaniac car salesman. I’ve moved to Threads, but I need to start again, making contacts and creating content, which I don’t have much time for at the moment.
But now we have WIPitch! It’s early days, but so far, I’ve been impressed with the depth and breadth of the writers on there.
Where can people find you online?
I have a website which is in dire need of updating. Otherwise, use the platforms above.
I had a short story published last month in Tangled Web magazine, set in the same world as my Remembering City novels - read it for free here.
Do you have any big plans for the future?
I’m already planning book three in the Remembering City series, but until book one is published, I want to try a stand-alone thriller and have an idea I am currently researching. I’ll keep writing more in the thriller/crime genre and short stories to hone my skills. As always, I’ll keep writing because I need to create.