Welcome to OPEN BOOK, where we open the book on our authors and discover their literary stories!

 

Our first episode is with SF Sowter, author of Criminal Cove: Home For Retired Supervillains

 

To see a video version of this post, head to the Olympia Publishers Instagram or Facebook page, where SF Sowter answers the questions himself.

 

 

 

 

What is your name and what book have you written?

 

My name is SF Sowter, and I have written Criminal Cove: Home For Retired Supervillains.

 

 

How long did you take to write it?

 

I think I started Criminal Cove in 2019 as a movie script and then transitioned to writing it as a novel around the start of 2020 – so around two years to complete the entire book.

 

 

Which genre best describes your book?

 

Criminal Cove sort of walks the line between fantasy and science-fiction in a general sense, but I guess superhero would be the best genre for it.

 

 

Who is the first person you have gifted a copy of your printed book to?

 

My mum and dad.

 

 

What is your earliest reading memory?

 

I have a very distinct memory of going to my primary school library and picking up one of the Goosebumps books, which would have been You Can’t Scare Me. It had this really vivid cover of mud monsters sort of attacking and that just really, really burned into my brain as this very early memory of reading a book.

 

 

Which book was your favourite as a child?

 

There was a book – a golden book – called There’s a Monster at the End of this Book with Grover, from Sesame Street, and I think I made my mother read that to me almost every day of my childhood.

 

 

Which book is your current favourite?

 

High Fidelity by Nick Hornby. That book just… I love that book so much. It’s one of the few books that I’ve read multiple times, maybe three times. I just love it.

 

 

How quickly can you finish reading a book?

 

It definitely depends on the size of the book - a week, depending on the scale of the book.

 

 

Do you prefer reading a book yourself or listening to an audiobook?

 

I think I’ll always prefer reading a book but I do a lot of driving for my job and audiobooks have definitely got me through the long drives - so I do enjoy both.

            

                                                                                                                        

Who is your favourite author?

 

I think Stephen King. He’s so prolific and so good at writing, and I think we as writers can all learn from him as probably the master – of contemporary fiction anyway.

 

 

Which book took you the longest to finish?

 

Stephen King’s The Stand. That thing is absolutely monolithic in its size – it’s just huge – and I remember it taking me, as a teenager, like a year or two. I just felt like it never ended.

 

 

Are there any books which have inspired your writing?

 

Definitely the work of Stephen King; the work of HP Lovecraft – any of the sort of Cthulu mythos stories; I really enjoy anything by Matthew Riley – the sort of wham-bam, bombastic styling I really appreciate and enjoy. I think books should be fun to read, so definitely those guys.

 

 

What book is at the top of your reading pile?

 

SCION by E.M. Peck. He’s an independent author and I just can’t wait to get into his book, that’s cyberpunk. I’m just excited to read it.

 

 

Which book do you think everyone would enjoy?

 

Everyone should read Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. It just should be mandatory because there are some valuable life lessons in there about not being a horrible person. I think everyone should read that book.

 

 

How many books have you read so far this year?

 

I have been tackling The Lord of the Rings since about November last year, so I am halfway through Return of the King at the moment. That’s where I’m at with reading.

 

 

Why should people read your book next?

 

I think you should read Criminal Cove because there’s nothing else quite like it. It’s a little bit weird and a little bit loud and bombastic and crazy and silly and a lot of fun. I think that was sort of my goal; to make something that was really fun to read and also with a little bit of heart about the way we talk about and treat the elderly in our society. So, I think there’s some valuable lessons in there, but mostly it’s just a really good time. I think that’s why you should read Criminal Cove: Home for Retired Supervillains.

 

 

This interview has been edited for our blog.

 

 

 

 

Criminal Cove: Home for Retired Supervillains is available now in paperback.