Martyn Taylor
Biography
Yorkshire born, in Sheffield, now living in Rotherham.
Married to Anne, absolutely the best Yorkshire lass, and sharing a quirky house with an enormous amount of books.
Started scratching at the writing in my teens and got distracted by the day job and other things until one day “I’m going to write a novel” became, “Today’s the day!” No plan, a start and a finish and not much in between except for the urge to write the story on a battered old laptop and a printer from a jumble sale . The result was ICELINE, a thriller about abduction, smuggling and dodgy diving in Western Scotland.
CONTROL:ESCAPE is the second novel about Steel and the characters at The Grange, revealing more of the place and the people who pass through its doors. Both now published here at Smashwords. There will be more!
Lifelong interest in taking photographs and totally sold on the profligacy of digital cameras. A camera with space for four hundred photos is my kind of kit. After years of missing pictures because there might be a better one and I only have two frames left the gluttony of digital and an SD card is brilliant!
I love Books, maps, scraps of paper – cornflake packets at breakfast – bits of poems, quotes and the way you can twist and turn the English language in so many directions for humour and the sheer delight of its beauty and brilliance. More unfinished notebooks filled with an indecipherable scrawl (no, really it is true!) Fortunately Anne can read my handwriting when it defeats me!
Anne encourages me to do sketching and drawing; occasionally I’ll try watercolours or smudge the oil paints around a canvas for fun.
Car wise, have always liked Land Rovers – former own of SWB Series III with Fairey overdrive and a hard top. Also old aeroplanes, I can’t resist looking up when something flies overhead, just in case it has that wing shape – you know the one I mean – and the roar of the Merlin. Always puts a tingle down my spine!
Other interests:
The Sea, beaches, clouds and staring at the sky – member of the Cloud Appreciation Society for a few years. Making pictures out of the shapes of clouds and watching the vapour trails of aircraft, wondering where the tyres will touch down next.
Boats, old ones, new ones, slow ones, fast ones. Fervent RNLI supporter – fabtastic lads and lasses!
Fascinated by history and the human stories behind gravestones and monuments; not the great events but the intimate tales of life. Myths and legends, folklore and am intrigued by urban myths.
I enjoy a film with a good story, Matrix (all three parts), V for Vendetta – the final scene outside parliament with the masked crowds; Dambusters; Where Eagles Dare – Richard Burton on the radio with “Broadsword calling Danny Boy”
Call in at my website and blogspot for updates on new work and smashwords discount coupons
Where to find Martyn Taylor online
Books
Control:Escape
by Martyn Taylor
Price: $2.99 USD. 93210 words.
Published on August 19, 2012. Fiction.
Steve Arkwright jumped a firewall and his life fell apart. The men in suits gave him an offer he couldn't refuse. After years of jumping hoops and someone looking over his shoulder he wants to change things around. The gilded cage is tarnished and he sees the prison. He wants out and finds allies at The Grange, Steel and Langhers are drawn in to his plans and have their own agenda.
Iceline
by Martyn Taylor
Price: $2.99 USD. 106860 words.
Published on August 18, 2012. Fiction.
Two weeks holiday in Scotland stretched into weeks as a missing person. He turned up battered, bruised and bloody, dumped on a mountain. He'd crossed a line without knowing his enemies. He was sure of his friends and wanted answers. The Iceline had been broken and the secret was out, diamonds were coming ashore in the scuba gear. This time Steel was ready for trouble.
Martyn Taylor’s tag cloud
Smashwords book reviews by Martyn Taylor
- Tinytown
on Dec. 16, 2012
Recommended by a friend and now passing it on. This is a must read; bitingly funny, grotesquely larger than life and a little guy hero against the bad big world. Ex-in-laws who should be outlawed driven by greed and excess; debauched tastes, twisted pleasures and gate-crashing the party of the year; and the hedgehog, that is just so wrong! Snappy, gut-achingly funny descriptions and a darkly satirical edge. Brilliant!
- Not Without My Cat (When fish is not enough)
on Jan. 10, 2013
Sam is a reformed character, with all the foibles of a man sorting his life out, a mad ex who won't leave him alone and a mystery arrives in his living room; involving time travel and a cat that glows in the dark set him on an investigation that reveals his own past. Wit, humour and brilliantly recognisable characters drawn from life. Enjoy it!
(review of free book)
- The Republican Coin
on April 01, 2013
Narratives bound by common humanity, details of a bigger picture where the intimate draws you into the smaller image and holds you there. The coin is a physical link between the past and the resent and potently symbolic in both tales, reflecting the choices made and how we deal with the consequences, and how they can return to haunt us. Stories of winning and losing deftly crafted and with a delicate touch for nuance. The Republican Coin is a book to read and go back to, to renew the acquaintance of the characters and catch the subtlety of the landscape. It is not a book of two halves, it is complete obverse and reverse, as the coin itself.
- Coincidence Theory
on April 05, 2013
Fast, tightly paced and intricately plotted, packed with historic detail and descriptions that put you in the thick of the action as the plot drags you along by the scruff of the neck. Dazzling, I couldn't put it down. A real page turner. Read it, you will not be disappointed.
