Welcome to my stop on Ian Patrick’s Stoned Love blog tour 🙂

Interview with Ian Patrick…..

For those who don’t know already, could you tell us about yourself and your book(s) please?

Hi and thanks for having me. I’m a retired Met Police DS having spent twenty-seven years serving London and the wider UK. Most of my police service was spent as an investigator in the Serious and Organised Crime Command. I now live in rural Scotland with my family and two dogs enjoying a slower pace of life. My books are set in London and focus on austerity and how this breeds corruption. I explore the issues through the eyes of a bent undercover cop called DS Batford and a professional and driven DCI called Klara Winter. Rubicon is my debut novel and Stoned Love the next in the series. The BBC has optioned Rubicon for a six part TV series and is currently in development.

Where did/do you get your ideas?

I stick with fictional situations while drawing on my police experience to provide realism and pace.

Are any of your characters based (however loosely) on anyone you know?

None. I prefer to use my overactive imagination to fill in the character traits and mannerisms.

How do you pick your characters’ names?

This is the toughest part for me. The lead, Sam Batford, was because I like the name Sam and was living in a place called Batford so the two came together!

Can you share your writing process with us, in a nutshell?

My process is very loose. I always know the start of a story but that’s it. I don’t plan it out but go where my subjects take me. This is what happens as an investigator so I guess my mind has adjusted to that way of working. In my mind there’s no plan to life so why should writing be any different. It works for me, up to now, but who knows how it could play out in the future? Time will tell. I do write every day though but don’t focus on word count.

Who are your top 5 favourite authors?

In no particular order:

Ed Mcbain.

Cormac McCarthy.

Lynda La Plante.

Chuck Palahniuk.

Jane Isaac.

If you could meet any author, who would it be and what would you ask them?

I’d love to meet Chuck Palahniuk and ask him for a signed severed arm! He had some made as a promotional tool for one of his tours.

Were you a big reader as a child?

I was a voracious reader. As a child I loved books by Sven Hassell, Enid Blyton and James Herriot. I spent a good amount of time in the local library so libraries and there survival is very important to me.

When did you start to write?

I’ve been writing for over twenty years. Policing is all about writing too so I got plenty of practice! As a kid I enjoyed English at school especially when we were tasked with a short story to write.

If you could re-write the ending to any book what would it be and what would you change?

Is there a book you wish you had written?

Honestly, I wouldn’t change an ending to any book. The author works so hard in crafting a story and the end is as crucial as the beginning and one an author takes time in deciding. Some readers like cliff hangers others like it all wrapped up with a pretty bow at the end. Let the author decide, I say.

As for books I’d wish I’d written then The Road by Cormac McCarthy would have to be it. That book is incredible in the tension created with so little happening in the main narrative. Some people get it, like me, others think nothing happens. When you get it you just finish the book and are in awe at what McCarthy has achieved. Jane Isaac is another fan of this one.

If you wrote an autobiography, what would your title be?

Unassuming: A life with no expectation. Not exactly a headline grabber but it’s the way I operate.

If you could invite any fictional character for coffee who would it be and where would you take them?

I’d invite Tyler Durden from Chuck Palahniuk’s Fight Club. I’d get him to take me to the location where Marla and he sat in the closing shot of the film and witness it all over again.

What are you working on right now?

Right now I’m editing the third in the Batford series called Fools Gold.

Tell us about your last release?

Stoned Love continues where Rubicon left off and explores Batford as he pits his wits against DCI Klara Winter, who is still gunning for him, an Italian gangster who wants him to explain where his missing cocaine is and another criminal called Razor who is looking to get Batford deeper into his underworld.

Do you have a new release due?

Hopefully my publisher, Fahrenheit Press, will enjoy Fools Gold enough that they will want to publish it next year.

What do you generally do to celebrate on publication day?

I take to Twitter and share the moment with my followers some of which are readers who make the process of writing all the more worthwhile. I don’t do much more and here’s why.

In the police when you have success in an operation you celebrate that success by going for a drink but after that you’re focussed on the next job.

So once a book’s out there then I’m on to the next one because that’s what the reader wants and I need to make sure I deliver something worthy of their time put aside to read it.

My job is to entertain and ensure time spent reading my work is a positive and enjoyable experience. If I achieve that just the once with someone I’ve never met then I will celebrate the books success. Until then it’s a waiting game of nerves and resilience!

How can readers keep in touch with you?

Readers can find me at https://twitter.com/IPatrick_Author I’m also on FB but spend more time on Twitter.

Is there anything else you would like us to know?

Yes. I’d like everyone that reads this and my books that I appreciate their time and I hope it brings them some enjoyment and respite from daily life.

Thank you for taking the time to answer my questions, Ian 🙂

Blurb

Detective Sergeant Sam Batford has been lying low at a remote safe house in the highlands of Scotland. He’s doing his best not to attract the attention of the enemies he made, on both sides of the law, during his last under-cover operation but Batford knows he’s just killing time until he’s called to account.

Inevitably the sharks begin to circle and as Batford is called back to front-line action in London he’s thrown into a deadly game of cat and mouse where it seems everyone is out to get him.

After having to endure a frustrating resolution to their previous undercover operation together DCI Klara Winter from the National Crime Agency is determined to prove that Batford has crossed the line into criminality and finally bring him to face justice.

All Sam Batford wants is to outwit his enemies long enough to stay alive and come out ahead of the game.  

Author Info

Ian spent twenty-seven years as a police officer, the majority as a detective within the Specialist Operations Command in London. A career in policing is a career in writing. Ian has been used to carrying a book and pen and making notes. Now retired, the need to write didn’t leave and evolved into fiction.

Rubicon is his debut novel published by Fahrenheit Press and Stoned Love the second in the series. Rubicon has been optioned by the BBC for a six part TV series.

He now lives in rural Scotland where he divides his time between family, writing, reading and photography.  

Buy Link

https://amzn.to/2OLpkuW

Happy reading 🙂