Interview with
Tony Thorne,
author of
Points of View, and more!
A warm welcome to author Tony Thorne, visiting The Happy Book
Reviewer all the way from the Canary Islands!
You
have quite the unique background, Tony! You were raised in London but now you
spend summer and fall in Austria, and winter and spring in Tenerife in the
Canary Islands. You've been a lecturer for the British Interplanetary Society, and
a pioneer in the fields of computer graphics set to music, as well as the
development of intelligent software for creating business programs. You also made
developments in the fields of low temperature (cryo)surgery instruments, and
very high temperature processing furnaces for carbon fibre and nuclear grade
graphite. For this work, the Queen of England even awarded you an MBE!
How
did you make the leap from "real life" science to Science Fiction
writing? Was it a matter of daydreaming all the "What Ifs?"
Thorne: That’s a fascinating question. However, I was writing SF from quite an
early age and my first published stories, back in the 1950s, were
written soon after I graduated as a design engineer. Then my whirlwind,
worldwide, business career took over and I had no time for writing fiction
again until I retired in the late 1990s. Then the ‘what-ifs’ inspiration
came as a result of all my experiences in hi-tech product design and marketing.
You've
been published in magazines and anthologies, but also have several books out.
Can you tell me about your YA Thriller Points
of View?
Thorne: It’s all about previously blind young
Horace Mayberry, who gets fitted with artificial nanotronic eyes possessing
superhuman abilities. He soon discovers the price he must pay for them when he
is appointed as an assistant to a real life government secret agent, and
embarks on a series of hazardous adventures, including being kidnapped by a
sinister gang of international terrorists.
However, his new eyes are intelligent
and develop amazing new abilities as and when he needs them... which is often!
It
is currently a stand-alone book, but I hear there is another on the way to make it
into a series. Is the second book
complete?
Thorne: It has just been
published, by Amazon, as Points of View – The Weapons. In
this first sequel terrorists have stolen five new nanotronic weapons developed
from Horace’s prototype eyes. Only he
can locate the different hideouts where they have been hidden, using new
abilities provided by his eyes, and the team of agents must recover the weapons
before the terrorists discover how to activate them. The action takes place in
several countries and builds up to an exciting, and unexpected, climax in
Austria.
Now, I've written novels but I've never seriously written short stories. How
was the process different between writing full-length novels versus short
stories?
Thorne: Very different! I enjoyed having room to develop my young hero’s personality,
but especially I had a great time thinking up his various dreams and the way
they were influenced by his adventures and apprehensions. Yes, should anyone
ask, I discovered James Thurber’s Walter Mitty
creation many years ago and enjoyed the Danny Kaye film back in the sixties,
but I haven’t yet seen the new film version of the tale. Any similarities are
purely coincidental.
Tell me a bit about your Macabre tales.
(Wait… should I cover my eyes so I don't get nightmares?)
Thorne: As one kind reviewer wrote… “Macabre
Tales is
a collection of hypothetical,
scientific and even theoretical short stories. The author has observed
some daily life events and written speculative stories around them. Each story is entertaining, full of suspense, and is short and to the point. The
author’s imagination coupled with his scientific knowledge has made this book
totally different.”
Another
wrote… “I found Tony Thorne more droll than truly
gruesome. His concepts are clever, his writing sharp and quickly to the point
and he closes with a quiet flourish... He delves into personal areas, our daily
lives and asks you to consider the alternatives that are conceivably possible,
if only...”
What
inspired these tales?
Thorne: That’s a tough question, because I really cannot
say what inspired many of them. For example, I woke up on several occasions
with a new tale almost completed. My imagination doesn’t seem to need sleep. Another
one however was inspired by my long interest in the many Clthulhu Mythos tales
by H.P.Lovecraft. Another evolved as a tribute, but different, to Alfred
Hitchcock and his Psycho film.
If a high school class were reading
your Points of View series someday, what themes would the teacher be wanting
the students to pick up on?
Thorne: How each of Horace’s adventures affected his
personality, and also his vivid dreams, which before he regained his sight,
were the only way he had of ‘seeing’ anything.
You've had
a long writing career, but The Happy Book Reviewer has plenty of readers who
have just published their first book, or are still writing that first
manuscript. What advice would you give to someone just starting out as a
writer?
Thorne: Never
give up writing, especially when nowadays the marketing of your work seems to
take up most of your time! Take notice of what readers think about your work
and try to improve it… constantly.
I know you're a big fan of Sci-Fi. What
book (Sci-Fi or otherwise) have you read that that you wish you had written?
Thorne: Almost anything by Harry Harrison, my
late mentor, especially the Stainless Steel Rat series of hilarious Sci-Fi
novels.
Are you working on a next book? Can you
give us a hint on what it is about?
Thorne: I’m about 65% through my next novel in
the Points of View series. With a lot of
experience as assistant to top secret agent, Major Aubrey Jackson, behind him
now, young Horace Mayberry travels with the team to visit the CIA Headquarters
in America. He gives a limited demonstration there, of his eyes’ superhuman
abilities but is soon abducted by a gang working with a Hi-Tech Corporation
with connections to his earlier adversary, Rudoph Beckmann.
Readers can find more about your books on
your website, www.tonythorne.com and in e-book and print at the below links:
- Eternal Press
- Barnes & Noble
- Amazon
- or consider ordering it from your local bookseller!
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