Our lovely Geoff Le Pard of TanGental is about to publish his latest strike, a sequel of his book Dead Flies which will be free in Kindle for a download between October 30th and November 3rd.
I feel honored to support his new release with a guest post. So let’s let Geoff tell us how he got to write The Last Will of Sven Anderson:
The first inkling that I might write the first book in the Harry Spittle saga emerged during a writers’ retreat where I met Anne. Arguably, but for her encouragement and that of the other attendees, I wouldn’t have taken the two scenes I wrote that week and read to the group on the last evening first saw the light of day and turned them into that first book, Dead Flies and Sherry Trifle a coming of age story loosely based on my experiences as a 19 year old in the ludicrously hot summer of 1976, back home from my first year at University and stuck away in the New Forest.
It always aimed to be a book that would make you laugh and take you on a roller coaster of a journey of growth, much as I did that summer working in a large and wackily staffed country hotel. My recollections, many years later may have lacked detail – which allowed me full rein to use my imagination – but I clearly remembered the characters that shaped and coloured that three months. School and University hadn’t prepared me for the adult world where people from such diverse backgrounds lived and worked cheek by jowl, interacting with the fluid cast of guests.
It was a character that drove the creation of that book and it was the characters I created who returned to me some three years after Dead Flies was published to say, politely but firmly that they needed another outlet. Writers will often tell you how their characters took them over, changing plots and the direction of a novel as the author writes it. That is certainly true for me. But the cast in Dead Flies wasn’t content to interfere with my plans as I wrote that book. They wanted another airing. And, as it happens, a third and there will have to be a fourth too.
I love the way I can let my mind float between possible story ideas, waiting for the most pressing to call me to the keyboard. I always said, starting my writing life late on in my advancing years, that I wouldn’t be defined by a genre or setting. I would write whatever I wanted, preferably as different from the last one as possible.
But eventually, I gave in and wrote the second book, The Last Will of Sven Andersen which launches in November. If the first book took four years to reach publication and this book, two then the next and the one after will emerge in the next year. They are there, they have to be written.
Bloody hell, I’m possessed…
Thank you for this wonderful and Geoff-like introduction. Now let’s take a look into the book itself. Here is a blurb:
When Harry Spittle, nearly qualified as a solicitor, is approached to write a Will for old acquaintance Sven Andersen, he is somewhat surprised but rather pleased. That pleasure sours after he finds that the Will Sven actually signs is very different from the one he has drawn up, with Harry as the executor. Disappointment turns to horror when he discovers that Sven has been winding up his late father’s criminal empire and a number of not very nice people are interested in Will’s contents.
If he is to remain in one piece, able to continue his career in the law and save his on-off relationship with his girlfriend Penny, who is unfortunately under suspicion of murder, he needs to find out what’s happened to the money and distribute it according to Sven’s wishes. The trouble is Sven has not only hidden the assets but also the identities of those who benefit. Harry will have to solve a fiendish puzzle Sven has left behind with the help of his sister Dina before his world comes crashing down. With so many people depending on him, Harry knows it’s time for him to grow up – it’s just that he really, really doesn’t want to.
Set in 1981 to the backdrop of punk, Thatcherite politics and an upcoming Royal wedding, this is a book for those who like their nostalgia served with a side of humour and a dash of optimism all wrapped up in a compelling mystery.
For those who are not familiar with Dead Flies, here is the blurb:
It’s summer 1976 and hotter than Hades. Harry Spittle, nineteen, is home from university, aiming to earn some money to go on holiday and maybe get laid. He expects he will be bored rigid, but the appearance of an old family friend, Charlie Jepson, his psychopathic son, Claude, and predatory wife Monica changes that. As his parents’ marriage implodes, Harry’s problems mount; before he knows it he’s in debt up to his ears and dealing in drugs. Things go from bad to worse when he is stabbed. He needs money fast, but now his job is at risk, his sister is in trouble and he has discovered a family secret that could destroy all he holds dear. Will Harry have to join forces with the local criminal mastermind to survive the summer and save his family? Can he regain some credibility and self-respect? Most importantly will he finally get laid?
Dead Flies will be free from 30th October 2019 to 3rd November 2019
Last but not least here we have some information about the author himself:
Geoff Le Pard started writing to entertain in 2006. He hasn’t left his keyboard since. When he’s not churning out novels he writes some maudlin self-indulgent poetry, short fiction, and blogs at geofflepard.com. He walks the dog for mutual inspiration and most of his best ideas come out of these strolls. He also cooks with passion if not precision.
Geoff Le Pard’s Amazon Author Page
This is the amazing list of releases:
My Father and Other Liars is a thriller set in the near future and takes its heroes,
Dead Flies and Sherry Trifle is a coming of age story. Set in 1976 the hero Harry Spittle is home from university for the holidays. He has three goals: to keep away from his family, earn money and hopefully have sex. Inevitably his summer turns out to be very different from that anticipated.
Life in a Grain of Sand is a 30 story anthology covering many genres: fantasy, romance, humour, thriller, espionage, conspiracy theories, MG and indeed something for everyone. All the stories were written during Nano 2015
Salisbury Square is a dark thriller set in present-day London where a homeless woman and a Polish man, escaping the police at home, form an unlikely alliance to save themselves.
This is available here
Buster & Moo is about two couples and the dog whose ownership passes from one to the other. When the couples meet, via the dog, the previously hidden cracks in their relationships surface and events begin to spiral out of control. If the relationships are to survive there is room for only one hero but who will that be?
Life in a Flash is a set of super short fiction, flash and micro fiction that should keep you engaged and amused for ages
Apprenticed To My Mother describes the period after my father died when I thought I was to play the role of a dutiful son, while Mum wanted a new, improved version of her husband – a sort of Desmond 2.0. We both had a lot to learn in those five years, with a lot of laughs and a few tears as we went.
Life in a Conversation is an anthology of short and super short fiction that explores connections through humour, speech, and everything besides. If you enjoy the funny, the weird and the heart-rending then you’ll be sure to find something here.
In this the second part of the Harry Spittle sagas, Harry is now working in London, as a nearly qualified solicitor when an old acquaintance, Sven Andersen asks him to make his Will. If that wasn’t surprising enough finding out that Sven had not only died but also left Harry to sort out the mess of Sven’s affairs (including unwinding the residue of Sven’s father’s criminal empire) are problems Harry could well do without. Set in 1981 amongst the tensions of Thatcherite politics, the peak of punk and an upcoming Royal Wedding the Last Will of Sven Andersen will intrigue and delight as well as make you wince and wonder.
So don’t forget to check out Dead Flies on amazon for getting your free Kindle copy!
Comments are closed here. Please, comment directly on Geoff’s page!
In Love and Light
Share Your Light 
[…] Geoff Le Pard’s New Release: The Last Will Of Sven Andersen — Share Your Light üzerinden […]
LikeLiked by 1 person