When I began this newsletter I had grand ambitions of growing it far and wide, one day using it as a launchpad for my own book. I enjoy sharing my thoughts and processes and random meanderings, and didn’t think much about how I could use this to promote others. Yet here I am, 18 months or so after beginning this newsletter, and my first book promotion is not one of my own, but that of my dear friend, Mike Stephens.
Mike has been one of my closest friends for years. I couldn’t tell you exactly when the friendship started. He was first my lecturer when I was an undergraduate, then an informal sounding board when my PhD supervisor disappeared off the face of the planet. We became colleagues, meeting for regular chats and after work drinks, bonding over the frustrations with senior management decisions. But a deeper connection began to form. We were (and are) both avid supporters of Welsh Rugby Union, living in an English town. Our politics are similar and our impatience for unnecessary bureaucracy is the stuff of legends. We long for travel, but enjoy our home comforts. And one day, I realised we were integral parts of each other's lives.
We have picked each other up during ill health both figuratively and, on one memorable occasion, literally. As a pair of atheists, he happily agreed when he was asked to be the secular ‘guideparent’ to first one, then the second, of my boys. And so the infamously child-averse Dr Michael Stephens became the football-playing, bottle-giving, hug-receiving Uncle Mike. Family truly does transcend blood ties.
And now Uncle Mike has written a book. Two, actually, but the second will be released in the new year. This first book, Staying Down, lived in the back of his garage for years. His niece, Hayley, discovered the manuscript when she was helping sort through his accumulated boxes of ‘stuff’. And what a find it was. Set in 1970s Wales, this historical fiction explores the devastating impact of the closure of the major industry in town, humanising the struggles by focusing on the decline of the Rhys family. This deeply moving story is instantly evocative of the region and the broader societal issues that were profligate at the time.
I would love to see Mike’s work find the audience it so richly deserves. As a fantasy author myself, it’s fascinating to step into a richly painted version of our own world for a change. If you’re curious to find out more, you can buy the ebook from your preferred supplier, or the paperback from Amazon: https://books2read.com/stayingdown Or ask your library to stock it!