Special Guest Interview with Stephen M Davis, Author of The Rebecca Chronicles

Available from Amazon UK and Amazon US

Rebecca is far from your average 21st-century girl. She is an old soul and rather than be on her mobile phone, prefers to sit in the woods sketching imaginative worlds. Often, those around her refer to 

Rebecca as a “second-timer.” As her grandmother often says, 

“even the way you speak suggests you’ve been here before.”

I'm pleased to welcome author Stephen M Davis to The Writing Desk:

Tell us about the Rebecca Chronicles

I started writing rather late in life and published Book One in the Rebecca series at the age of 59. I now realise I needed to experience the ups and downs of life, enabling me to deal with the complex emotional and physical challenges Rebecca often faces. I grew up in post-WW2 East London and my world in this war-torn environment was full of challenges. This has offered me a balanced outlook, and a desire to create a better outcome for myself and my family.

So, as for Rebecca. She is my guiding light. She never suffers from writer’s block. I would recognise her voice in a crowded room. Often, I think, go right, but she says left. Here is what you can expect from the Rebecca Chronicles:

Rebecca is far from your average 21st-century girl. She is an old soul and rather than be on her mobile phone, prefers to sit in the woods sketching imaginative worlds. Often, those around her refer to Rebecca as a “second-timer.”

As her grandmother often says, “even the way you speak suggests you’ve been here before.”
When the family moves to an old manor house up by the lakes in the English countryside, although she misses the previous family home, she soon delights in her new surroundings and sets off exploring the vast grounds.

While digging around in an ancient wood, she finds a large Victorian key. Believing the key had been waiting for her, she sets off searching for its rightful home. After trying every keyhole, she comes across a derelict summerhouse.

 
Sure enough, the key fits, and entering this ramshackle building, she unearths a spiral staircase, hidden away for generations. Climbing the dust-laden stairs, she ventures up into the darkness.
Arriving at a door, her fearlessly inquisitive nature takes over, and fumbling around in the pitch black, she opens the door.

The door pulls from her grip, and slams shut behind her.
Frozen to the spot, the room fills with sunlight, and seconds later, she hears an unfamiliar female voice call her name.

Inexplicably, she’s stepped back 150 years into the history of the old manor house. Now amid a love triangle, she rallies to the aid and the beautiful, but estranged lady of the house, Meredith.

Only tomorrow will tell if her intervention was right, or if she’s unwittingly derailed history.
This is the first of many journeys into the past for this valiant young girl, all with one destiny, right past wrongs. Follow Rebecca into her adult years through five volumes of time-twisting adventures, soon to be six. Where next for this valiant female, the past, future, or both?

What is your preferred writing routine?

That’s a simple one. I am always up with the sun and with a decent coffee, I write for around 3 hours, in silence. Too much ‘noise’ and I don’t hear her guiding voice.

What advice do you have for new writers?

Allow yourself to be an author and believe you are. If you don’t who will? Your confidence will show.

What have you found to be the best way to raise awareness of your books?

Every platform of social media. Book trailer videos (I do my own, using Microsoft Movie Maker). Great graphics on social media. Entice the potential readers. A great image catches the eye better than a few lines. Remember the rules of today: A social media 15-second attention span for those under 30, a little more for those over. Great books don’t sell themselves.

Tell us something unexpected you discovered during your research.

Well, that’s been during Book Six. The ludicrous witch trials. Nineteen women were hung on one day in one small town in the UK. Also, Book Five. The outdated rules that were in place to control women. Some only recently changed.

What was the hardest scene you remember writing?

In Book Six. Rebecca awakes after 3 months in a coma.

What are you writing next?

My latest work in progress is Book Six: Rebecca – The Witching Dark Ages. Due for publication in summer 2023. Here’s a short blurb: Setting: Modern Day. After years of twists and turns, Rebecca’s learnt to prepare herself for the unexpected. However, waking and finding herself in a damp, foul-smelling 14th-century witch's jail, unbalances her ability to focus.

Stephen M Davis

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About the Author

Stephen M Davis  grew up in East London post-WW2.  It was a time of togetherness where everyone worked towards re-building their once great City.  During this time many life-lessons were embraced. In search of something better, he often used imagination to escape the meek and humble surroundings. This imagination stayed with him throughout his life, often showing itself by way of surreal and abstract paintings.  Later in life, this imagination manifested as words, and soon after putting pen to paper, Rebecca was brought to life. Book Two of the Rebecca Chronicles, Rebecca - The Way Back, won Book Talk Radio Club's Book of the Year 2019 - all genres. Find out more at Stephen's website https://www.stephenmdavis.co.uk/ and more about the Rebecca Chronicles at  https://stevedauthor3.wordpress.com/. You can also find Steve on Twitter @SDavis571