Altered Light was inspired by my connection to a spiritual being called Al. I have worked as a medium for a lot of years and thought I was retiring to the quiet of Berkshire in southern England. As it turned out after a spell in the cardiac care unit at the county hospital, I was destined to carry on my work in a different way. Now I am back running a spiritual development group and offering Angel Lives Readings to people from my "alteredlight.co.uk" website. And of course I am busy writing more books in the “Al” series. It never ceases to amaze me how things work out – thanks to spirit and those splendid people at the hospital.

I have been working within Altered Light for a long time but without realizing its true nature. When my inspirer, who I call Spirit of Anthony, first made himself known to me the room was filled with an extraordinary light. It was intensely bright but not glaring, so the people in the room could see it without shielding their eyes. The work I have done as a medium and spiritual awareness coach over many years since that time has all been done within Altered Light. Spirit of Anthony sent “Al” to me to give me the words for a book which would help me understand better. And of course I have published those words for everyone to share. Spirit of Anthony and Al offer infinite and unconditional love. What they have to give is for everyone who is happy to open their heart and transform their way of seeing the world.

I don’t really feel qualified to advise other writers. But what I will say is “be true to yourself.” I think everyone has something to offer the world. It’s important to write and publish what you feel and what you need to express. It doesn’t matter if it is fiction or non-fiction, speak from the heart. So many people believe their voice is not worth hearing. That is not so, our world needs your input. I think it was the British MP Edmund Burke back in the 19th century who wisely said - "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing." It’s up to us all to make the world a better place.

I suppose I do get writer’s block but I call it loss of connection. As all my writing is inspired I have to be “in the zone” to get the work done. Truthfully I write like mad on some days and do none at all on others. I need to go away and do other ordinary things like go shopping with my wife or do jobs around the house. Or read a book of course. Then I get back in the mind-set to write.

Altered Light isn’t really a story in that sense but I certainly like the idea of making it into one. The thought of a screenplay for a drama is marvellous. To play me I think I’d like Michael Kitchen, the British actor who is well known for Foyle’s War. He has done a lot of other good work over the years and is very believable. As to the principal character Al, he has a kind of cheeky vigor about him despite his lofty angelic status. I think Martin Shaw, known for TV’s Judge John Deed and Inspector George Gently, would be good. He has great compassion and depth, a superb actor. If Altered Light were made into a drama there would be a role for a strong down to earth yet spiritual woman. Without doubt I would want Maxine Peake, known best as Martha Costello in the BBC TV series Silk, to play her. She is quite wonderful.

I grew up on the borders of London's east end, in Essex. I was lucky having an extension of Epping Forest close by where I enjoyed hours of fun in a very green environment. It was the best part of a not particularly happy childhood. Without doubt I inherited the London cockney sparkle as I'm always talking and used to enjoy the everyday banter and lively atmosphere of the city. I worked in London during the 1960's and again later in the 1980's.

Ironically it is only since moving away to Berkshire that I've got properly into writing. I had to calm down, be quieter and deal with my health issues. But as the saying goes you can take the boy out of Essex but you can't take Essex out of the boy. I know my London origins have helped make my writing more conversational, which several people have commented on.

Altered Light is the first in a series of "AL" books. The next one, "Angel Lives". I am researching right now. In my work as a medium the subject I get asked about more than any other is reincarnation. "Angel Lives" illustrates what reincarnation is all about and how our life pathways are designed for us by the Angels of Creation.

At the time of writing I am looking at presenting the second book in a very different way to Altered Light. I will try to give it a broader appeal.We shall see if I succeed..

I do remember the first proper story I wrote as an adult. It was a lot of years ago and I drafted this tale about a guy who by chance discovers that someone is going to explode a nuclear bomb in Israel. The action followed what happened afterwards with an Arab-Israeli war and the contamination and fall-out over a big part of the world.

Amazingly the following year Chernobyl happened and so much of that was like my story, but in a different location. It was one of the earliest occasions when I sensed a kind of psychic perception. I have had many pre-cognitive experiences since but not written about them.

I have written a couple of self-published books before Altered Light. The first was a thriller and I sourced a shadowy image from the internet and laid the title font on top of it. Very amateurish really but the book sold well locally. For Altered Light what I had to get straight in my mind was that as an indie author my book was not going to be on any book shop shelves. The public would see my book as a thumbnail on a web page like Amazon. The book cover has to have simple impact that is clear in a small image. I'm not sure my cover is that good but I did get a professional to do it. It is quite distinctive.

For my next book Angel Lives I'm taking a different approach it will have a characterization by a professional artist on the cover. I will use a hand written style font for the title but it's important that it's clear. I will definitely use a professional designer.We will see if it works.

I have a Kobo. I bought it because when I was self-publishing Altered Light I wanted to get an ebook out there first and see what it looked like. So I went with Smashwords and bought a Kobo to access my book.

I like my Kobo because it is comfortable to use and with Adobe Digital Editions downloaded on my pc I can upload pdfs to my Kobo as well as books. That is really useful when I am leading my spiritual group.