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Alan Bayles

Goodreads Author

Born

in Hartlepool, The United Kingdom

Genre

Science Fiction

Member Since

April 2021

URL

https://www.goodreads.com/albay3037

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My name is Alan Bayles and I was born in Hartlepool, England in 1970, along with my twin brother. We were both raised in Langley Park, Durham, England.

Then in 2004 I met the woman who would change my life forever - Monica. In 2005 I proposed to her, a short time after that I moved over to Northern Ireland to be with her. We were married in June 2007 and are still very happily married. We don’t have any pets or children (maybe that is a good thing, because according to my wife, I’m a still a child at heart!).

Much to my wife's dismay, I'm a huge science fiction and comics fan. Love all forms of sci-fi, from Star Trek, Doctor Who, Blake's 7 etc and I have been a massive Marvel comics fan for over 40 odd years. I am also a Sunderland AFC suppo My name is Alan Bayles and I was born in Hartlepool, England in 1970, along with my twin brother. We were both raised in Langley Park, Durham, England.

Then in 2004 I met the woman who would change my life forever - Monica. In 2005 I proposed to her, a short time after that I moved over to Northern Ireland to be with her. We were married in June 2007 and are still very happily married. We don’t have any pets or children (maybe that is a good thing, because according to my wife, I’m a still a child at heart!).

Much to my wife's dismay, I'm a huge science fiction and comics fan. Love all forms of sci-fi, from Star Trek, Doctor Who, Blake's 7 etc and I have been a massive Marvel comics fan for over 40 odd years. I am also a Sunderland AFC supporter, even though I am not able to get to the games I still proudly listen to them on the radio.

My fascination with books probably began when I was around 6 or 7 years of age. I blame my mum for this. She was a voracious reader and was a big fan of Catherine Cookson. One day she thought I appeared to enjoy reading comics (not just looking at the pictures), so she encouraged me to read by getting me my first library ticket.

The very first book I loaned from the library was Doctor Who and Death To The Daleks. After that I slowly moved onto reading some of the books my mum had. I have a fond memory of reading Catherine Cookson's The Fifteen Streets and enjoying it.

I love reading fantasy, science fiction, action & adventure, and thrillers. My favourite authors are Stephen King, James Herbert, Clive Cussler, Dean Koontz, Audrey Niffenegger and Neil Gaiman. But out of all the authors that I have mentioned above, the one who inspired me the most was James Herbert. I was around 10 or 11 when I first read James Herbert's The Rats and being so terrified by it, but still ended up reading the next book! His writing was so vivid and engrossing, to this day I still retain certain scenes in my head from that book.

I first started to write when I was 14, when I was given an assignment by my English Teacher to write a prologue for a story. Even though, I enjoyed the experience and wanted to write a book, I didn't think I was good enough and believed a person had to be highly educated to write a book, so I put it on the back burner. But that desire to be writer was always hammering away at my subconscious and it wasn't until I was approaching my 50th birthday, when I decided that I would write that book I had been putting off for so long. I felt if I wouldn't do it now, I may never do it, so I sat to down to write the story I had been putting off for 30 odd years.

And so, in April 2020 my love of fantasy and science fiction inspired me to write my first book – Double Jeopardy – an intense science fiction thriller and the first book in my Mirror Wars series – it just so happened to contain nods to some of my favourite authors, films and TV shows that have ignited my imagination over the years. I also used my “experiences” of being a twin to help me write about evil doppelgangers! I am proud to say that in June 2021, I proudly self-published my first book.

That was then followed up by Oracle’s Vision, the second book in my mirror wars series. It was released on 1st January 2024. Like Double Jeopardy, it is a science fiction thriller with a wee smidge of horror thrown in for good measure. The story follows on from Double Jeopardy and follows the antagonist, Oracle who was revealed towards the end of book one. She is an insane AI who has delusions of ruling over all organic life across the multiverse (hence the title). I have recently released the third book in my Mirror Wars tetrology – Realm Of Fear and I have recently just finished writing the fourth & final book of the series – The Custos Gambit (TBR April 2027).

Best wishes - or as the great Stan Lee used to say…

Excelsior!
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Alan Bayles’s books

Average rating: 4.36 · 85 ratings · 67 reviews · 3 distinct works • Similar authors

	Double Jeopardy (Mirror Wars Book 1) by Alan Bayles (Goodreads Author), Kate Chaparro (Editor) 4.37 avg rating — 49 ratings — 5 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Oracle's Vision: The next thrilling chapter In the Mirror Wars saga 4.39 avg rating — 23 ratings — 5 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Realm of Fear 4.31 avg rating — 13 ratings — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

* Note: these are all the books on Goodreads for this author. To add more, click here.

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Alan Bayles's Blog

Oracle's Vision - Mirror Wars Book 2

I had planned on releasing Oracle's Vision, the next book in my Mirror Wars series, on 1st January 2024. I wanted to my readers to have a chance of pre-ordering. People seem to be able to do that okay with the kindle version but for the physical copy, KDP won't allow me to set it as pre-order.

So as an early Christmas present to my readers, I have decided to make the paperback edition of Oracle's Read more of this blog post »

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Published on December 10, 2023 11:25

Alan is Currently Reading

Alan Bayles is currently reading

We Need to Talk About Kevin

by Lionel Shriver (Goodreads Author)

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Jul 14, 2026 06:52AM

Alan Bayles is currently reading

The Count of Monte Cristo

by Alexandre Dumas

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Aug 07, 2024 08:38AM

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Alan Bayles is currently reading We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Jul 14, 2026 06:52AM · like
Alan Bayles rated a book liked it Gone Before Goodbye by Reese Witherspoon	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
This is my first Harlan Coben book and one of the reasons I wanted to read it was because I noticed it was had also been written by Reese Witherspoon. The story focuses on Maggie, a surgeon who is undergoing tough time in her career. When she's offer ...more
Jul 12, 2026 02:25AM · like · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Gone Before Goodbye by Reese Witherspoon. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Gone Before Goodbye by Reese Witherspoon <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Alan Bayles rated a book it was ok Hannibal: (Hannibal Lecter) by Thomas Harris	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Ever had one of those moments where you felt you should have left well alone? Well, this how I felt after finishing this book. I really should have just read Silence Of The Lambs and left it there. It's probably the first time I have felt a mixture o ...more
Jul 07, 2026 08:33AM · like · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Hannibal by Thomas Harris. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Hannibal by Thomas Harris <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Alan Bayles rated a book really liked it The Martian by Andy Weir (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
I was unlucky not get The Martian when it was originally released, but I've listened to the audiobook many times. However, I was recently able to purchase the 15th anniversary edition. It is gorgeously on the outer edges of huge pages and some lovely ...more
Jun 10, 2026 06:24AM · like · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of The Martian by Andy Weir. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — The Martian by Andy Weir <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Alan Bayles rated a book liked it What Could Go Wrong? by Jessica Fowler (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Jun 09, 2026 08:11AM · like · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of What Could Go Wrong? by Jessica Fowler. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — What Could Go Wrong? by Jessica Fowler <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Alan Bayles rated a book liked it Red Dragon (Hannibal Lecter, #1) by Thomas Harris	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
After reading Silence Of The Lambs, I felt I needed to read Red Dragon because I was curious to see how the series had started from picking up the references to Lecter's history with Will Graham. I have to be honest, I feel this book doesn't flow as ...more
May 31, 2026 03:44AM · like · see review
Alan Bayles and 1 other person liked D.E. Fox's review of Death on the Thames (Alexandra Raven Mysteries #2): "When I thought book 1 was amazing here comes book 2. I think I would love to meet Alex Raven she sounds absolutely awesome. This adventure takes me back to my childhood when I loved books with strong believable characters, characters who make you sho" Read more of this review »
May 19, 2026 07:31AM · see review
Alan Bayles rated a book it was amazing Silence Of The Lambs by Thomas Harris	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
I've never seen the film, so thought I would read this before I watched it so I could compare the two. I was aware before buying it that this is the second book of the series, but somebody told me that I don't need to the read the first book to under ...more
May 19, 2026 06:36AM · 5 likes · like · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Silence Of The Lambs by Thomas Harris. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Silence Of The Lambs by Thomas Harris <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Alan Bayles rated a book really liked it Lift Me Up by Milly Johnson (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
A short read, but still held my attention. Pace of the book moves pretty well. Characters well developed. If you're looking for a fun, short read, then I highly recommend it. ...more
May 19, 2026 06:27AM · like · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Lift Me Up by Milly Johnson. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Lift Me Up by Milly Johnson <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Alan Bayles rated a book liked it Apprentice to the Villain (Assistant to the Villain, #2) by Hannah Nicole Maehrer (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
I bought this book out of curiosity after reading the synopsis and thought it be a humorous read. However, I hadn't realised it was the second book of the series (that'll teach me for not being very observant!). But that didn't deter me from giving i ...more
May 19, 2026 06:21AM · like · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Apprentice to the Villain by Hannah Nicole Maehrer. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Apprentice to the Villain by Hannah Nicole Maehrer <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">