And Finally...

 

6 years in the making. What started as a short story, a novella if you will, turned into something that pushed my limits as a writer and creative thinker.

Where on earth did this story come from? To be honest, I've always been fascinated with repeating numbers, religious beliefs and ufology.

As a kid I used to watch the skies, prior to the release of the Spielberg classic, Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977). I've witnessed countless strange things in the sky that, for me at least, left me perplexed. I won't go into too much detail but sufficed to say whatever these anomalies were, they left a long standing impression on me.

So, writing 'No Other Man' I was able to combine my fascination with repeating numbers, religion and, to an extent, ufology.

Many don't know that back in 1999, I became the Poetry Slam Champion of my then hometown, Birmingham. I beat a teacher of poetry in the final. My poems, back then, were humorous, some written for children and some written for adult audiences. Nothing came of that victorious moment, aside from a local library dedicating a section of my work to be displayed.

One of those poems features in 'No Other Man', it has not been altered in any way. It's the one poem that has always stayed with me, so much so that I had a line of it tattooed onto my arm. A reminder that it's okay to ask questions even if we don't get the answers.

I wrote the first 14,000 words or so of 'No Other Man' over a period of 7 days. It had a beginning, a middle, and, what I thought at the time, an end. I then added dialogue and tried to build up the characters. Soon I was hitting around 30,000 words and it was at this point that I decided to delete the ending and expand on a complex twist. It ended up a 246 page thriller.

Little did I know that the poem I included in Chapter One would play a major role in where the story was heading. I restructured the story, re-wrote, re-wrote, and re-wrote, over 15 times until I was happy with the finished product. Lots of research into specific areas had to be sought so it wasn't just a matter of creating fictional towns and places.

Some of the characters in my book are a mish-mash of real people I know, obviously exaggerated versions of them.

So, what's 'No Other Man' about? Here's the blurb on the back cover:

CLICK TO ENLARGE

I’d like to acknowledge those spiritual beings who guided me throughout this whole writing process. I cannot prove they were around me, I just felt they were. Their guidance unlocked this story that was held captive inside my head. This, along with a musical soundtrack and imaginary silver screen provided me with an insight, my own movie premiere, if you will. It was a silent movie until I made the characters come alive. Musical composers Hans Zimmer, James Horner, Danny Elfman, to name but a few, provided me the music, via Spotify, to accompany the scenes.

I’d also like to acknowledge an old school teacher (who shall remain nameless). “Fiddaman”, he once said, “You’ll never make anything of yourself.” Thank you for being the driving force of my imagination, sir.

A very special thank you to my publishing team, Austin Macauley. From the editing to art departments, they have been a superb professional outfit that I hope to be associated with for the second, and possibly third instalment, of this story.

No Other Man can be ordered online via my new website here, via Austin Macauley Publishers here, and via Amazon here. It is also available via bookstores around the globe, such as Waterstones, etc.


Bob Fiddaman