Kickingthetyres
Kicking the Tyres is my first full-length novel and it took me three years to write. It’s fairly auto-biographical (as many first novels are), drawing heavily on the months when I had concussion after falling off a race-horse. Don’t be too impressed though, I’m the original anti-hero; yes, he was a 16:2 thoroughbred gelding…and, yes, I was only mooching across the stable yard on a long rein when he stood up and whipped round on me. And, yes, I was wearing a crash hat...luckily. Here's the first chapter.
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But it provided the starting point for the hero, Zac Zender, a man with cotton wool in his head, a racing car to finish and too many people trying to help him. And this is drawn from life too; I was an engineer for many years and became fascinated with just how difficult it can be to finish a project on time, not through lack of experience, enthusiasm or even money, but simply because it’s so darn difficult, in the heat of the moment, to do the right things, in the right order. And also by how blindingly obvious it always is, after the event, just where you went wrong.
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It’s even more difficult when people get involved with each other at work. Judgements get clouded, motives get blurry and the whole thing teeters between wild, heady success and total abject failure. Sometimes young, impetuous people actually achieve the impossible because they’re in love. Other times, the older, saner woman may save the day by rational thought, and continue to admire…from afar. There are both kinds in the book.
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| I've always taken lots of photographs, of everything, and I tend to think in pictures in my head; I visualise the scene and then the dialogue just comes. Sam, the understated heroine, is drawn from a number of very special friends over the years (you know who you are), and this scene was completely vivid in my head from the start; |
"Sam picked at another thread from her sleeve and twirled the end nervously. The jacket hadn’t been worn for two years and when, the previous evening, she'd pulled it out of her wardrobe, the bright colours seemed to have faded. But she knew that Zac liked it, so she'd sewn a button back on and sponged the collar. She wished now that she’d looked more closely at the cuffs.
Sam was starting to feel slightly conspicuous and more than a bit stupid, standing there in the arrivals hall with a pounding heart and an aching head. How old was she, for goodness sake?
Forty-five, and in a complete stew over someone at least ten years younger. Sam, feeling like an overdressed teenager, stuffed the thread back into her sleeve and then saw him, still uncurling himself from the eleven hour flight, an old leather bag over his shoulder and some sort of parcel in his left hand. His wide brimmed hat was pulled down low, hiding most of that wonderful curly hair, the pinstripe jacket didn't go with his jeans and she knew without looking that he'd be wearing odd socks. He turned the corner towards her and the parcel resolved itself into a pile of magazines, tied up with string.
Sam’s feelings welled over and she stepped behind a pillar for a moment, watching him as he peered down at the row of cab drivers with their printed placards, his bag in one hand now and the back numbers of “Horse and Hound” that she’d asked him, half jokingly, to bring, in the other."
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| I like Sam; she's definitely my favourite character in the book, perhaps a sign that I'm getting older. In her forties, she's still gorgeous (to me anyway!) and has carried a torch for Zac for many years.I had more trouble with Jody, the tasty young software engineer. She's drawn from life too (hello Jody!) and I spent a lot of time trying to get over the wild enthusiasm that can sometimes achieve the impossibe (or land you right in it..) |
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"Jody ploughed on. ‘He doesn't need you to nursemaid him. You saw him drive on Sunday. He was really going some.'
‘Driving’s not the problem. It’s a different sort of stress.’ Sam sighed. ‘And it’s a long story.'
'Don't give me that! You're just trying to mother him, like he's another Harry.’ Jody stood up and faced Sam directly. ‘You’re too old for him anyway.'
Sam's hand whipped across her cheek, once but hard. The two women stared at each other as the blood reddened Jody’s face and Sam wondered what had happened to gratitude; she’d taught this girl to ride, stabled her horse for next to nothing and taken her out on the trails in all weathers. Sam’s kindly face slipped a little towards weariness.
‘So you are sweet on him then!' Jody grinned triumphantly and walked out without touching her face."
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Impetuous...but vital to Zac's racing car, Jody has written the software that controls its revolutionary VapourMotors. And there's a little thread of fact here too; the engine really exists...and works. There's a blog here on trying to make it run again, 25 years after I originally invented it. |
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Here's a final clip from Kicking the Tyres, once again drawn from experience. Many, many years ago I was lucky enough to do several laps round Goodwood circuit as passenger alongside a young New Zealander called Mike Thackwell. He was, at the time, the youngest person ever to qualify for Formula One and, although he never made it big time, to a young driver like me he seemed jolly quick.
But, unlike Jody, I did not fancy my instructor that day.
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| "She was going to die. No-one could get round that corner at that speed and he'd left it far too late to brake. With a sickening, horrible certainty, Jody realised that he'd lost his judgement as well as his nerve, felt a fleeting regret that they'd never made love, and shut her eyes. She didn't want to see any more." |
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"She should have kept them open; it would have lessened the shock as he hit the brakes. Jammed hard against the straps now, and wishing she'd pulled them even tighter, she forced her eyelids up to see the corner upon them, the billboards whipping past and his hands a blur on the steering wheel. She heard the tyres first, a tortured, drawn out scream as he scrubbed through the apex and then saw burnt rubber, tiny wisps of smoke snatched away by the airstream as he straightened up.
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| Finally she smelt the tyres, her stomach contracting as acrid fumes drifted up through the vents in the footwells. Jody coughed, wishing the Ferrari had carpets like any normal car." |
Please, read on down to see some of the nice things that people have said about “Kicking the Tyres”, click here to read the first chapter, or here to buy a copy. It costs £8.00, and postage is free to anywhere in the world.
Mike
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"I found "Kicking the Tyres" easy to pick-up yet difficult to put-down, with a good balance of drama, romance, technical bits & tension from the start. The reader feels like he’s alongside the characters - sharing the challenges & excitement. Looking forward to the sequel!" Gordon Chapman
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| "Normally I only read a few pages at a time. I can't remember ever reading a book in a week before, but I've been staying up till past one in the morning every night. I've just just finished it and it's completely fantastic! Would make a great film." Jill S |
| "Tell him I'm half way through his book and it's really good" Anon (called across the room to the other end of a phone conversation about some photographs. Thank you, whoever you are) |
| "A creative blend of relationships, technology, horses and storytelling that builds to a compelling finish" Steve Kidd |
| "A jolly good read for a long-haul flight" Polly Taylor |
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