Ask the Author: Harry Nicholson
Answered Questions (12)
Harry Nicholson
Thank you, Peter. It is a delight to hear from a reader. I'm reassured enough to carry on with book 4- which might be complete before the year ends. Then I can get back to writing historical novels, which is where I began (Tom Fleck and its sequel, Black Caravel)
Perhaps I met your father in some Eastern watering hole. His name rings a bell. Brocklebanks had a radio officer called Roger Bentley - I relieved him on the Malabar, a sam-boat.
The Radio Officers Association has a reunion in Liverpool next week. I'll be attending. It should be interesting at the bar with all those greybeards, trying to make one pint last all night..
Perhaps I met your father in some Eastern watering hole. His name rings a bell. Brocklebanks had a radio officer called Roger Bentley - I relieved him on the Malabar, a sam-boat.
The Radio Officers Association has a reunion in Liverpool next week. I'll be attending. It should be interesting at the bar with all those greybeards, trying to make one pint last all night..
Harry Nicholson
Hello, Sam. Thanks for making contact. It is a rare and precious event to hear from a reader.
A good question you ask - it makes me think more deeply. My favourite ship was SS Mahanada that I joined in January 1957. I did 12 months and two voyages on her. She was wartime built, but as comfortable as an old slipper. A happy ship, I was told she had a ghost, but I never encountered it - even so, going on watch in the small hours could be creepy... just the hiss of the sea and the slow creak of rivets as I climbed the ladder to the wireless room. A ship of good comrades.
A good question you ask - it makes me think more deeply. My favourite ship was SS Mahanada that I joined in January 1957. I did 12 months and two voyages on her. She was wartime built, but as comfortable as an old slipper. A happy ship, I was told she had a ghost, but I never encountered it - even so, going on watch in the small hours could be creepy... just the hiss of the sea and the slow creak of rivets as I climbed the ladder to the wireless room. A ship of good comrades.
Harry Nicholson
Hello, Paul. Thanks for asking.
I'm working on what I assume is the last volume. The working title is 'Sea Wife', and I'm on with chapter seven. In this one Beryl does a 7 month voyage with me, after which I do one more deep sea trip alone before coming ashore to work in new technologies in TV studios. I'd not envisaged such a long series, but the memories keep surfacing.
Just had the cataracts removed and can now see for miles - so writing is that much easier.
best wishes
Harry
I'm working on what I assume is the last volume. The working title is 'Sea Wife', and I'm on with chapter seven. In this one Beryl does a 7 month voyage with me, after which I do one more deep sea trip alone before coming ashore to work in new technologies in TV studios. I'd not envisaged such a long series, but the memories keep surfacing.
Just had the cataracts removed and can now see for miles - so writing is that much easier.
best wishes
Harry
Harry Nicholson
Hello John, it is good to hear from you. Thanks for reading volume 2 of my sea memoir. I'll be reading your book soon, it fits the period of my interests well. I'm still busy writing - at my age it keeps me going. I'm now working on volume 3 of the MN memoir. After that is complete I may well return to writing historical fiction - which is how I became involved with creative writing.
Best wishes and keep well.
Harry Nicholson
Best wishes and keep well.
Harry Nicholson
Harry Nicholson
Enamelling on Copper, by Pat Johnson.
Harry Nicholson
Hello Leila; lovely to hear from you. CreateSpace is Amazon's publishing arm - it has a site online that guides the author through the process of loading text and cover design. and it's free. The site is even easier than it was 5 years ago when I first used it. There are a few fiddly bits on Amazon: setting up an author page, linking paperback to kindle etc. If you are thinking of publishing and hit problems, I'll help where I can. There are issues of font etc that I'm beginning to understand better.
Harry Nicholson
I've been studying the genealogy of Northern England since the 70s. Ordinary folk have no records before the mid 16thC - so I thought it a creative act to write a novel of the unrecorded generation before 1566. I have had to understand the landscape and social order those forgotten people inhabited. 'Tom Fleck' is the result of that. It was a joy to write.
Harry Nicholson
I listen to folk music while I'm in my workshop. The bench is covered in scribbled lines I hear in the lyrics. Each year I take two breaks, one in the hills with other writers, the other on my own in some wild place at a time of bad weather.
Harry Nicholson
A sequel to my historical fiction 'Tom Fleck'. That was set in 1513, the year of Flodden Field. The sequel is set in 1536, the year of the Pilgrimage of Grace, we find Tom Fleck and his family caught up in the chaos of that period.
Harry Nicholson
Read famous and obscure authors of the 20th century, in your genre - there are riches to be found
Harry Nicholson
It expands the imagination and makes life richer.
Harry Nicholson
I go for a solitary walk along the shore, or on the moor top - often I come back with a poem and sometimes with a new scene for the novel.
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