Land of Ghosts

E V Seymour

E.V. Seymour was born in West Bromwich in the West Midlands and spent much of her early years in the surrounding area. Through an unhappy chain of events, she was sent away to school in Malvern then Cheltenham, later fleeing institutional life for the bright lights of the Edinburgh Festival. Captivated by the city, she decided to stay – home being a grotty bed-sit next to a football ground – and paid the rent by selling stationery supplies.

After a move to London, she began an arts degree, which she dropped out of to join a public relations consultancy – home moving up several gears to a flat in Kensington, shared with a couple of old school-friends. During her P.R. career, she was involved in a number of accounts, mainly medical and nutritional, and included the Woman’s Own Children of Courage awards, which she ran for two years.

After another move to a P.R. consultancy in Birmingham, she married and moved to South Devon. Five children later, she began writing in her spare time. Previous writing credits include a number of short stories broadcast on BBC Radio Devon, and articles in Devon Today magazine. She has since bent the ears of a number of police officers in Devon, West Mercia and West Midlands, including Scenes of Crime and firearms, in a ruthless bid to make her writing career more enduring than previous attempts.

Below is a Q&A with this author.

How would you describe your latest novel ‘The Last Exile’?
It’s easier to describe what ‘The Last Exile’ isn’t! The novel is broader than a straight crime thriller and, although it combines typical elements of the spy story, it doesn’t really fall into that genre either. Cutting to the chase, I’d say it’s a distinctly British thriller with political overtones. It’s also very character driven. Our main man is Paul Tallis, former soldier and ex-firearms officer turned off-the-books spook.

What gave you the inspiration for the story?
Tragically, the inspiration for the story resulted from the shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes at Stockwell Tube station in July 2005.

Following the incident, there was a radio discussion and phone-in programme examining the actions of the firearms officers involved. Criticism was strong and in some cases highly emotive. The officers were variously accused of being ‘cowboys’ and ‘gunslingers,’ and this got me thinking. What must it feel like to be in their shoes?

While the killing of an innocent man was a tragedy, I wondered whether the blame was being aimed at the wrong people. It seemed to me that the firearms officers were following orders based on what they considered to be credible intelligence. Catapulted into a situation where they believed their target was a terrorist, the threat of losing their lives in a possible retaliatory response was all too real. With that as my starting point, the rest of the story developed reasonably easily.

Who do you base your characters on?
I’m not sure I base my characters on anyone. They’re a composite of people I’ve come across, but I also rely heavily on imagination. Tallis, my main protagonist, is less easy to explain. As a woman writing as a man, I can hardly say that he’s my alter ego! His physical appearance, his values, and beliefs probably come close to what I find most desirable in a bloke. Having said that, I recognise that some of his attributes are mine, which is probably a bit odd! Safe to say, if Tallis were to walk into the room, I’d recognise him immediately.

From where do you get your ideas?
I’m a bit of a news junkie and my ideas are ripped straight from the headlines – hence the focus on immigration in ‘The Last Exile.’ But I also think you require an X-factor element, a way of stamping that idea as your own and, therefore, making it unique. To try and do this, it definitely helps to approach an existing idea or story from an oblique angle. I always go back to the classic ‘What if?’

What are you writing next?
The next novel is about organised crime and terrorism. It begins in Turkey and finishes in Britain. Tallis, in the lead role, is forced to risk his life by infiltrating a major criminal gang. With big themes of revenge, betrayal and power, it’s a blast to write!