Off topic about books7 Nov 2025 21:42
It’s weekend and this is off topic, but it attempts to explains some recent posts which have popped up on here about my books and writing.
I’m nearly as old as Methuselah but still walking and talking, thanks to the NHS.
In August 2024, I was persuaded to enroll in a 12-month experimental immunotherapy treatment to prevent the persistent recurrence of metastatic malignant tumours, requiring surgery. The consultant oncologist told me it was a very expensive treatment, and the money was coming out of his research budget. I said, “You’re offering to buy me another five years, right?”
He replied, “That’s the plan, so how will you spend those years to justify the cost of it?” I offered to become an author and write books of fiction and entertain the world. We shook hands on the deal, and he has held me to it at his clinics!
So, I wrote a book called “An Engineer’s Tale” which is in part memoir and in part total fiction. As an unknown author, it was very difficult to find a literary agent or a publisher; it took months of pitching before Pegasus accepted it and gave me a contract. In the contract, they asked for first right of refusal on my next two books. Next two, eh? I started writing again with a science fiction book called “The Martian Endeavour” and Pegasus gave me a contract for that, too. I’m now into my third book, another sci -fi with the working title “The Cosmic Elevator”
It looks like the first book is headed to the printers soon, and the second book is in the proof-reading stage and will go to the printers in the new year.
It’s been a fascinating late life career option. I have no expectations about the scale of royalties, but every little helps.💰💰
Sign In
Follow the stocks
