A signalman from Handbridge is celebrating his 50th year in style with the release of his first novella to make it into print.
The inspiration for David Siddall’s Liverpool-set crime thriller A Man Alone, which has been published by Indianapolis-based Full Dark City Press, came from an unlikely source – a lad’s magazine.
David explained that an article based on the urban myth that it’s possible to buy anything from certain pubs and the accompanying photograph of an armed gentleman inspired his writing.
“The guy in question had to buy a handgun and the black and white cover photograph was of him holding a revolver and staring at the camera with a pint and a smouldering cigarette in an ashtray,” he said. “It was so evocative that I had a major scene straight away. The rest just followed. Somebody described it as an urban western and I think that’s the best way of looking at it.”
David, who mans the signals at Helsby Junction when he’s not scribbling away, has been writing for the past 15 years and has had several short stories published in anthologies already but has never undertaken any training.
He said: “I came late to writing, afraid I was never much of a scholar at school, but I always enjoyed making and writing music.
“With the work I do and the shift patterns, it can make a mess of your social life. I think writing fulfils my need for creativity, and is one of the things I can do on those night shifts when we have the odd quiet period.”
His day job has even found expression in his writing, with trains appearing in several of his supernatural yarns, including one he’s currently working on set in the Dales and on the Settle to Carlisle.
David described the feeling of a box of A Man Alone paperbacks landing on his doorstep as a ‘real thrill’ and has already completed a book signing at The Olde Bookshop in Formby.
The fledgling author has another novella in the pipeline and is also working on a novel.
A Man Alone is available to purchase on Amazon in paperback or as an e-book.
