An Interview with Kenneth George

I am an unlikely writer. I was born more years ago than I care to remember, a stone’s throw from Heathrow airport. Even back in those days, I loved stories but never imagined writing them. My bent was always technical. In the 1980s, I started writing articles for a computer magazine. That ended when the publication folded. I didn’t return to writing until I retired, but this time it was fiction. I was actually writing stories that other people wanted to read.

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What inspired you to start writing this book?

The inspiration for this book came from studying an online course on forensic science. I became fascinated by the possibilities raised by monozygotic (identical) twins having the same DNA.

Tell us the story of your book’s current title. Was it easy to find, or did it take forever?

It was a hard-won title. I started with the chromosomes as a working title of XY-X0. I launched the book with the title of Hammer Blow, after the method the murderer chose. It wasn’t until I was rewriting the blurb that it came to me that the title should hint at what the story is all about.

Describe your dream book cover.

Once I settled on a title, I had several ideas for a cover. Babies on a supermarket shelf, another was a dark room with a baby left on the windowsill with the window open.

If your book had a soundtrack, what are some songs that would be on it?

Inspector Deverson is a Pink Floyd fan, and one song, On the Turning Away, is mentioned in the book. I would also include Wish You Were Here, which Deverson picks out on guitar.

What books are you reading (for research or comfort) as you continue the writing process?

Forensics: The Anatomy of Crime by Val McDermid. This was useful as she not only traces the development of techniques but also mentions limitations that most of us don’t know. Read both for entertainment and to learn. I recently read The Crocodile Hunter by Gerald Seymour and found myself saying, “That’s how you write a suspense novel.”

What other professions have you worked in? What’s something about you that your readers wouldn’t know?

Now this could be a long list. I started in fuel cell research. Then, I progressed to mechanical engineering and became a washing machine repairman. At the age of forty-one, I went to university to study computer systems engineering. I taught in colleges and schools before running a post office.

Who/what made you want to write? Was there a particular person, or particular writers/works/art forms that influenced you?

If you’ve got this far, you can see that I am a very unlikely writer. Unlike some writers, I was never driven to write. For me, it was more of a discovery that I could do it. It started with a computer magazine appealing for someone to write a review of a show I was attending. When I wrote the review, it was published, and that gave me the confidence to submit more. I stopped writing when the magazine folded, and I went to university. To be honest, working and studying left little time for writing. When I retired and had time, I started reading stories on short story websites, and that inspired me to try my hand at writing fiction.

Where is your favorite place to write?

My spare bedroom. I tend to work late at night and shutting myself away from distractions works well for me.

What advice would you give your past self at the start of your writing journey?

Never believe that you can’t do it. Read a lot. Read for relaxation and entertainment, but while you read, study the way other writers construct their stories.

What’s one thing you hope sticks with readers after they finish your book?

I hope that people reading the book will want to know more about Mike Deverson and what happens to him next. I hope they will see him as a conflicted man trying to dispense justice the best way that he can.

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Are you a writer, too? Submit your manuscript to Atmosphere Press.