Henry Lewi talks to me about his short story collectin 'Once We Were Heroes'.

 

What would you say are the themes in Once We Were Heroes? 

 

  The book is a collection of short stories I began writing after my retiral, some during the lockdown and some after. The themes are simply, have you ever wondered where do the Gods of Olympus do their shopping? Or do they do it online? Which football clubs do they support?  When Angels are sent down to Earth, how do they get home?
How did Vampires cope with Lockdown during the pandemic? What do you do if a serial killer haunting New Orleans is immortal? And finally, are Extra-Terrestrials dangerous, or do they just want to speak to us?

 

 

What got you into writing short stories in the first place? 

 

  After I retired I completed a Master’s course in History at the University of Birmingham which I really enjoyed. I attended a short story writing course and I found that the Flash Fiction/Short Story format suited my style. It's somewhat easier; you don’t have to fully develop characters, and if you add a splash of science into your story you don’t have to fully explain it, a two or three word description is enough. It’s not about being too lazy to write a novel; the short story still needs to be crafted to hold the reader’s attention, but its about being able to be concise and clear in your delivery.

 

 

 

Do you have a routine as a writer? 

 

 Not really. I just like to write in the early mornings, it seems that most of the ideas I write about just pop into my head and I tend to write them down in my notebook, but I always write the story as a one off on my computer and then spend time correcting an editing.

 

Do you have any advice for those who want to write short stories and get them published? 

 

 Find a local writing course; it helps if you understand the structure of the short story, and if you’re in a group you can bounce ideas of each other. Enjoy the writing, don’t be afraid and read your work to people. Accept the criticism; it only helps!

 

Are there any writers who influence you, who you enjoy reading? 

  

  As a kid I used to devour those yellow jacket covered Gollancz SF volumes of short stories, which is probably why I like the short story genre. In terms of writers, I love the Slow Horses series by Mick Herron, I wish I could write with his humour;; the same goes for Philip Kerr whose Bernie Gunther novels are simply brilliant and historically accurate. He’s sadly missed.  Like Herron he injects some dark humour into his novels, as does Carl Hiaasen in his Floridian novels.

 

Do you have any more writing projects or events planned? 

 

  I currently have two writing projects on the go.

 One is a series of short stories about a department of the Secret Service called the Committee of Awareness, Knowledge and Enlightenment (The Cake), which I’m combining into a book called “A Slice of Cake”.  All the stories are about 2-3000 words long, but its not really a novel just a series of linked stories that provide snapshots of the Service over an 80 year period (from 1944 to 2024). Obviously the central characters change but the overall theme is a constant.

 The second is a series of stories titled “From the Chronicles of the Celestial Office” which follows the confusion and surrounding the Big Bang and the creation of the Universe. Aamongst the tales is the discovery of the Big Red Button, which allows a re-set of the Universe, and what happens when the Universal Regulators pay an unannounced visit and Senior members of the Celestial Office go on a road trip down on Earth.    

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