My guest today is historical mystery thriller author, Stephen Cox. Stephen is going to talk to us about his writing journey, and his latest book. So grab yourself a cuppa, get cosy and let’s get chatting to Stephen.
Bio
Stephen Cox is a writer living in London, whose career was in comms for non-profits. He’d read every Holmes, Christie, and Sayers before he was 21 and did Holmes fanfic in school. He has also read the Moonstone at least six times. With a science degree, he has always been a fan of history and the imagination.
His first two novels, Our Child of the Stars and Our Child of Two Worlds were called “heartfelt, imaginative and gripping”, with wide praise in the national press. He was particularly pleased that his mum thought they were ‘real books’ even though they have aliens in.
Welcome to my blog, Stephen. Can you tell us about your writing journey and why you decided to eventually ditch traditional publishing and go for self publishing?
Thanks for inviting me, Karen. My writing journey falls into two halves
Wanting to be a writer
Really trying to be a writer.
They’re quite different. One lives in the sort of cosy daydream where you spend an hour a day at the laptop and get to solve murders the rest of the time. The other is about getting up and writing for four hours with flu, when you’d rather stay in bed, because you finally figured out a tricky scene.
I read voraciously. I ran roleplaying- games including a collaborative epistolary novel, and did some journalism, a couple of years writing short stories, and a few years sidelined into poetry, and a bit of satire. And then in a sabbatical, aged 49, I tried to write a novel, which I worked through to submit to agents. It was tough but it brought joy.
But I knew another story was better.
A little boy from the stars and the childless couple who adopted him… set in the year of Woodstock and the Moon landings… It was beautiful and funny and tinged with sadness. That became Our Child of the Stars, with my distinctive ‘not really sure what genre it is but I like it’ feel.
I plunged into the writing world, including a magnificent writing group, where I made great friends.
I’m a messy, iterative writer, and first my agent and then my editor at Jo Fletcher Books helped me beat it into shape. It got fantastic reviews, and ‘meh’ sales, and I ran into second book syndrome, and the pandemic when I was working at a frontline NHS hospital. Our Child of Two Worlds is a great book, completing the story, but I still run into lovers of the first book who don’t even know #2 exists.
What daydream writer land doesn’t show you is that your debut novel is not the Golden Ticket to a book a year and steadily rising sales. Many debuts disappoint, sales-wise. My agent left agenting, my editor left, and I switched continent, genre and period.
The Crooked Medium’s Guide to Murder is ‘a rollicking tale’, of two crooked queer women in 1880s London who find themselves trying to save a young Lady from her brutal husband. My new agent and I parted company, I queried agents, then direct submission publishers.
My faith in the book stayed firm. It has brilliant characters, a lot to say about idolising the Victorians, a fabulous twisty plot and a voice I am proud of. Very well then, I said, I will self-publish. Not for riches, not for fame, but because it’s a good book and I want it out. Indeed, in a period of deep gloom, I asked myself, if you never sell another copy, will you still write?
The answer was yes, embracing the joy and the struggle, and that’s why I know, I really am a writer. One who has a lot more stories in me.
Thanks for dropping by to talk to us today, Stephen. I hope your book sells shed loads and that you continue writing all the stories you have in you. ☺️
Stephen’s Latest Book
Blurb
London 1881. Can two crooked women stop a murder?
Extravagant medium Mrs Ashton and her lover, blunt working-class Mrs Bradshaw, run a spiritualist scam. Mrs Ashton secretly reads minds.
Grieving Lady Violet craves the truth behind her mother’s untimely death. But Lady Violet’s powerful husband Sir Charles hates spiritualists. Has he killed before?
Uncovering this MP’s wicked crimes puts all three women in terrible danger…
To solve a shocking murder, look both sides of the grave.
BUY LINKS
Stephen’s webpage is regularly updated and therefore the best link to use. Amazon Print goes live 1st Sept’
Stephen’s other books:
Karen King 