This post is to give you a flavour of what to expect from my new novel, The World Is At War, Again, soon to be published by Elsewhen Press. It took ten years to write, during which time I worked in bookshops, flirted with the idea of a psychotherapy career, became a school librarian and, in 2015, became a dad.
In March 2020, I was hugely excited to learn that Elsewhen Press wanted to publish TWIAWA. In the past year we have all needed something hopeful to look forward to, and I feel incredibly fortunate to have had this light at the end of the tunnel. Here’s what it’s about.
The World is at War, again. New technology has been abandoned, a period of Great Regression is under way.
In suburbia, low level Agent Assassins Maria and Marco Fandanelli are given a surprise promotion as “Things Aren’t Going Too Well With The War.” Leaving their son Peter behind, they set sail on the luxury cruise-liner Water Lily City, hoping an important mission might save their careers and their marriage.
Dilapidated and derelict, Panbury Hall is not what Peter expected from boarding school. Together, with his celebrity dorm buddy, he adjusts to a new life that involves double dates, ginger vodka, Fine Art face painting and kidnapping, as they attempt to uncover the mystery of Panbury Hall.
Despite being a member of the Misorov Agent Assassin dynasty, Chewti is a reluctant AA. She only joined the Family Business to track down her cousin Nadia, the rogue AA who killed her mother. Really, she wanted to be a school teacher. So when Nadia is spotted loitering in the grounds of Panbury Hall, the opportunity to avenge her mother’s death and have her dream job is too tempting to turn down.
The World is at War, Again, is a lively, eccentric work of comic, modern fiction which playfully blends the spy thriller and coming of age story, with social satire and speculative fiction. It is literary and post modern but also a speedily paced comedy. Peter, Chewti, Maria and Marco's stories entwine within an extravagant plot of corruption, betrayal, heroism and absurdity as they each search for identity and meaning in unusual times – a search to understand themselves.