A Moment In Time by Martin Dukes

 Please welcome Martin Dukes author of A Moment In Time

Martin Dukes will be awarding a $25 Amazon/BN GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.

A Moment In Time

by Martin Dukes

 

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GENRE: YA Fantasy

 

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INTERVIEW:

1. What or who inspired you to start writing? 

 

I think it may have been my mother who encouraged me to start writing. She wrote down my childish efforts at poetry in a little notebook when I was very young so she evidently thought they showed promise. When I was at secondary school my English teacher was similarly encouraging. The poor man lived at the bottom of my road so I regularly turned up on his doorstep, wondering if he’d like to see what I’d been writing. He never showed any signs of impatience, bless him, and his approval meant a lot to me at the time. Apart from that, I was always a prolific reader. In primary school I quickly read the set texts for my class and was given the liberty of the classroom book case after that, to choose my own, which made me feel very grown up. I’m sure the desire to write is closely associated with the desire to read. I remember reading under the bedclothes with a torch when I was supposed to be asleep and making notes for my own stories at the same time.

2. How did you come up with your idea for your novel?

 

I’ve always been interested in the notion of ‘time’ and I wanted to come up with an idea that was completely unique. When, I’m reading I’m always excited to come across a plot device or a premise that I’ve never come across before, because it feels like exploring new territory, like venturing into realms unknown. I wanted the readers of my book to have the same experience. In addition, I’m a big fan of ‘what if?’ scenarios. For example, what if everyone could fly? What if everyone could read each other’s thoughts? My book raises the question; what if you could stop time? I’m guessing that quite a few readers out there have fantasised about exactly this scenario. Are you having a hectic day? No problem. All you need to do is step outside of time and chill for a while. You can sit down, read a book and generally do as you please until you’re ready to set things going again. You could get up to all sorts of mischief too, which is exactly what Alex Trueman does.

3. What would you want your readers to know about you that might not be in your bio?

 

My book cover and all my publicity material feature my son Jack. I certainly didn’t have the means to engage a professional model for this purpose but Jack proved to be just what I needed. I’m a photographer and graphic designer so we set up various still and movie photoshoots to create a bank of images that I can draw from as my Alex Trueman Chronicles series develops. He’s far from being famous at present but if Netflix come calling I don’t doubt he’ll put himself forward to continue to be the public face of Alex Trueman!

4. As far as your writing goes, what are your future plans?

 

Although I have completed writing four episodes from the Alex Trueman Chronicles the series remains incomplete. I’m starting to think about the next one now. My early thoughts are that this book should be quite dark, and face Alex with a series of existential challenges in which new dimensions are explored as well as old haunts re-visited. I’d hope to have this well under way in the next couple of weeks. In addition, I’ve just completed writing a fantasy book set in my imaginary world of Toxandria. Toxandria is depicted in a detailed map I painted back in my twenties. Although, it hangs in my hall and I pass it many times a day when I go up and down stairs, it’s only in the last year that I’ve given thought to actually writing stories set there. If you want to see that map you can visit it at https://www.mdukes-wildestdreams.com/post/toxandria. This continent is divided between four very distinctive realms and I intend to write one book set in each of them.

5. If you could be one of the characters from this book, who would it be and why?

 

I would have to be Alex Trueman. Alex Trueman represents a degree of wish fulfilment and there’s definitely an autobiographical element too. Like Alex, when I was at school, I was very prone to daydreaming and a little undersized for my age. For these reasons I was occasionally subject to bullying from larger boys, who tended to associate dreaminess and a passion from reading with weakness and vulnerability. In this book I imagine myself back into those circumstances and equip myself with the power to turn the tables in spectacular fashion. Oh, how I wish I had had those powers then! Later on in the book Alex is faced with challenges that enable him to discover a strength and a resilience within himself that leads to his triumph in adversity and his growth as a character.

6. Can you give us a sneak peek into this book?

 

Without giving too much away, I should say that the special powers that Alex Trueman finds himself in possession of quickly prove to have a downside. At first, he finds that appears to be able to stop time at will, which offers all sorts of exciting possibilities. Soon, however, he finds that he unable to get time moving again, that he is, in effect, trapped in a moment in time. Before long he finds that he is not the only person caught in this instant, that there is a whole society of people unable to return to ordinary time. The leader of this society, Ganymede, is a deeply unpleasant and tyrannical person who supplies his subjects with the food they need but demands total obedience in return. Alex quickly falls foul of Ganymede when it appears that he has extraordinary and dangerous powers. In addition, having previously had little experience with the opposite sex, Alex finds himself hopelessly entranced by one of the girls who shares his imprisonment. Alex’s battle to save her from the grisly fate that awaits her is one of the central themes of the story.

7. When did you first decide to submit your work? Please tell us what or who encouraged you to take this big step?

 

I am far from being a precocious success, having been learning my craft, in one way or another, for fifty years or so. During that time, I have submitted many manuscripts to many literary agents, accumulating an impressive quantity of rejection slips (and emails in more recent times). My big chance came when I discovered the wonderful Jane Murray of Provoco Publishing on Twitter, who invited me to submit some work for her to look at. I’m sure you can imagine my delight when she expressed her interest in my work and offered me a publishing contract. Since then, Jane has been most encouraging and accordingly I have submitted a number of manuscripts to her and completed two new ones. I owe her a lot! 

8. Do you outline your books or just start writing?

 

I need to establish a basic framework for the plot and its context in my head before I commit anything to the keyboard. I think of it as putting place the steelwork when constructing a new building, establishing the basic framework that will eventually be filled with walls, floors and internal detail of all kinds. I often make some rough notes at this early stage but very often the course of the book changes dramatically once I start writing. There’s an old saying (paraphrasing Prussian general Helmuth Von Moltke that says ‘no plan for battle survives first contact with the enemy’ and the same is true with writing. If I was to compare the final manuscript with the initial outline, I would find that the outcome was very different. This is because once I start writing the story tends to develop a life of its own and to turn and twist according to the creative impulse. That is the joy of writing; the sense of being a channel through which some deeper part of your psyche communicates with the world at large.

9. How do you maintain your creativity?

 

I think my creativity derives from having a rather tenuous connection with reality. I appreciate the need for it; I recognise its existence, but for the most part I live inside my head, a circumstance that my school teachers were quick to lament. Daydreaming is pretty much hard-wired into me and this internal world lacks many of the tiresome rules of material existence. This is the realm of fantasy, the stronghold of imagination and I am glad to have the opportunity to share what I see there with others. For many years I served as a teacher of art and design, when I strove to nourish and direct the creativity of others. Now I have retired, I have the opportunity to spend more time in directing my own. I have never felt the need to ‘maintain’ creativity, since ideas seem to come to me as naturally as breathing. I leave it to others to determine if they are interesting or engaging!

10. Who is your favorite character in the book. Can you tell us why?

 

Apart from Alex himself, I really enjoyed writing Paulo. Paulo is the kind of aggressively self-confident thug Alex is always doing his best to avoid in school. He has a sparkle in his eye and a way with the girls that Alex very much envies. In addition, he is a rebel, refusing to knuckle down to the regime that Ganymede imposes on his subjects and escaping into the woods and wild places, where he can live a life of freedom. Naturally, he quickly attracts the severe disapproval on Ganymede, who uses his power to limit his offensive speech in a rather amusing way. Unfortunately for Alex, he finds that his own fate is inextricably bound up with Paulo’s and that he will somehow need to make the lad his ally, if he is to make good his escape from this world and save Kelly from death.

BLURB:

 

Alex Trueman has just turned fifteen. He's a typical teenager, a bit spotty, a bit nerdy and he's not exactly popular at school, not being one of the 'cool' kids. His tendency to day-dream doesn't exactly help him to be cool. either! But being cool isn't as good as the talent Alex discovers he has - stopping time.

 

Yes that's right. Stopping time!

 

Well, for everyone except Alex, that is, who finds that whilst everyone else is caught in a moment in time, he is able to carry on as normal. Maybe not quite 'normal', after all, he's able to stop time, and whilst that's not exactly as good as a certain 'boy wizard', it's pretty close!

The only trouble is that reality for Alex isn't always what is seems, and being plunged into an alternative can be a bit tricky, not to mention the fact that he makes an enemy almost as soon as he arrives, which tends to cause a problem.

 

Will Alex Trueman, nerdy daydreamer, be able to return to reality or will he be stuck forever in his alternative? Is a moment in time enough for Alex to discover the superhero he needs is probably himself?

 

A Moment in Time is the debut novel of author Martin Dukes, and is the first in a series of Alex Trueman Chronicles, which take the reader, along with Alex, into a bedazzling world of time travel, alternative reality and flying sea creatures. His further adventures include the past, possibly the future and definitely a fight to save reality itself.

 

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EXCERPT:

 

Alex returned home to find a most unwelcome development, which had arrived through the letterbox in the superficially innocent form of a brown envelope. It might as well have been a letter bomb for its explosive impact on Alex’s day. It contained his school report.  His mother’s set jaw and the glint of steel in her eyes when Alex walked into the kitchen signalled danger ahead. Alarm bells were dinning away insistently by the time the brown envelope was brandished in his face.

 

“This,” she said, tapping him on the head with it for emphasis, “Is your report.” She paused to let Alex dwell on this prospect. “It does not make good reading. Let me see,” she pondered as she snatched up her glasses and whipped the report out to read. “Mathematics… 3C... English… 2C… Design Technology, get this… 4D.” She read through the whole list in a voice trembling with outrage. “And here’s the grand finale,” she said, shaking the page. “The considered opinion of your form teacher. Do you want to hear what Mr Burbage has to say about you?”

 

Alex had absolutely no desire to hear this now, or indeed ever, but he recognised there was no point in saying so. A display of submissive behaviour seemed in order. He hung his head. “Alex is undoubtedly an intelligent pupil with a bright future, should he choose to exert himself,” she read. “Get that? Should he choose to exert himself.”

 

Her face came worryingly close to Alex’s as she stressed this last part. He was conscious of a little drop of her saliva on his chin, at first warm, now suddenly cold.

 

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AUTHOR Bio and Links:

 

I’ve always been a writer. It’s not a choice. It’s a compulsion, and I’ve been writing as long as I can remember. Lots of childish scribbles in notebooks, lots of rejection slips from publishers and agents testify to a craft long in the making. In addition, it has proved necessary to earn a living by other means whilst those vital skills mature. For thirty-eight years I taught Art and Graphic Design, thirty-seven of them in a wonderful independent girls’ school in Birmingham, UK. For much of the latter part of this career I was Head of Department, which gave me the opportunity to place my own stamp on Art education there, sharing with the pupils there my own love of Art and the History of Art. Over a decade I was able to lead annual visits to Florence, Venice and Rome (some of my favourite places on the planet) as destinations on my Renaissance Tour. These visits created memories that I shall cherish for the rest of my life.

 

I love history in general, reading history as much as I read fiction. I have a particular interest in the ancient world but I am also fascinated with medieval times and with European history in general. This interest informs my own writing to the extent that human relationships and motivations are a constant throughout the millennia, and there is scarcely a story that could be conceived of that has not already played itself out in some historical context. There is much to learn from observing and understanding such things, much that can be usefully applied to my own work.

 

Teaching tends to be a rather time-consuming activity. Since retiring, I have been able to devote much more of my time to writing, and being taken on by the brilliant Jane Murray of Provoco Publishing has meant that I am finally able to bring my work to the reading public’s attention. I like to think that my ideas are original and that they do not readily fall into existing tropes and categories.

 

I am not a particularly physical being. I was always terrible at sport and have rather poor physical coordination (as though my body were organised by a committee rather than a single guiding intelligence!). I tend to treat my body as a conveyance for my head, which is where I really dwell. My writing typically derives from dreams. There is a sweet spot between sleeping and waking which is where my ideas originate. I always develop my stories there. When I am writing it feels as though the content of my dreams becomes real through the agency of my fingers on the keyboard. I love the English language, the rich majesty of its vocabulary and its rhythmic possibilities. My arrival at this stage could hardly be describes as precocious. However, at the age of sixty-two, I feel that I have arrived at a place where I can create work of value that others may appreciate and enjoy. 

 

https://provoco-publishing.com/martin-dukes

 

Twitter - @MartinDukes5

 

www.mdukes-wildestdreams.com

 

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GIVEAWAY INFORMATION and RAFFLECOPTER CODE

 

Martin Dukes will be awarding a $25 Amazon/BN GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.

 

RAFFLECOPTER:

 

http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/28e4345f3951