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I was born in Kingston Upon Hull, in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England, a few years ago. My education was completed at Coleg Harlech in Gwynedd, North Wales. It was a place that I fell in love with and where I read English Literature and Philosophy.
Despite writing stories to amuse my friends from a young age I did not get around to writing a full novel until I underwent major surgery in 2010. I originally started writing about the Battle of Stamford Bridge in 1066. Doing research revealed the earlier, but just as important, Battle of Fulford Gate. This is an encounter that is often overlooked in most historical accounts, but it inspired me to begin the Sorrow Song Trilogy with ‘The War Wolf’. The second part followed with ‘For Rapture of Ravens’ but then I found myself somewhat jaded with 1066 and decided to take a break. My idea of a break was to write an alternative history novel, ‘Eugenica’! It is a book about a difficult subject, eugenics and the treatment of disabled people. It involved a lot of personal investment from myself, which is probably why my wife thinks that it contains a lot of anger. The surgery that I mentioned above is related to my own disability.
I have finished the third and final part of the Sorrow Song with ‘The Blade’s Fell Blow’, which recounts the infamous Battle of Hastings. The trilogy is complete, and I genuinely feel that I have achieved something worthwhile.
A friend gave me the idea to write ‘Mesozoic’. It is a science fiction story, perhaps even more of a technological thriller. The premise is very simple, scientists from our future go back to the age of the dinosaurs to discover how life survives mass extinction events. The world we know has just been through one and the emerging new civilisation is keen not to be the cause of a another. Since I received a book on dinosaurs as a birthday present I have been fascinated by these creatures. Writing ‘Mesozoic’ was a lot of fun, but I did work hard to get the facts right. My dinosaurs are not the psychopathic human obsessed monsters of Jurassic Park, they are based on genuine palaeontological research. I even invented a method of time travel that has a logical system behind it.
As you might have gathered by now, if you read this far that is, I am not a genre writer. For me the story is the most important aspect of writing. I am not going to write unless I like the subject matter. This might mean that I never become a professional author as I seem to lack a commitment to just making money, but then I only ever wanted one person, someone I did not know, to read one of my books and say that they enjoyed it. In those terms I have been very successful.
My latest book is a fantasy novel, ‘The Queen of the Mountain Kingdom’. It is not like other fantasy novels, I believe. It is not set in a medieval Europe inspired civilisation. It does not have any elves, dwarves, or orcs. Wizards are also absent, but there is a powerful sorceress and a race of magick users. A rather large Napoleonic style battle also decides the fate of the kingdom. It is a long book, some 170,000 words, but I think it is well paced with plenty of action, detail, and character development. I am thinking of writing at least two more books to continue the story.
I have my own website here http://www.petercwhitaker.co.uk/ where you are welcome to visit and get in touch with me if you would like to (copy and paste the address into your browser first though).
I am married with two adult children, two cats, and one beautiful wife.
Many thanks.
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