Alan BaylesRead Interview

I was born in Hartlepool, England in 1970, along with my twin brother. We were both raised in Langley Park, Durham, England.
Then in 2004 I met the woman who would change my life forever – Monica. In 2005 I proposed to her, a short time after that I moved over to Northern Ireland to be with her. We were married in June 2007 and are still very happily married. We don’t have any pets or children (maybe that is a good thing, because according to my wife, I’m a still a child at heart!).
Much to my wife’s dismay, I’m a huge science fiction and comics fan. Love all forms of sci-fi, from Star Trek, Doctor Who, Blake’s 7 etc and I have been a massive Marvel comics fan for over 40 odd years. I am also a Sunderland AFC supporter, even though I am not able to get to the games I still proudly listen to them on the radio.
My fascination with books probably began when I was around 6 or 7 years of age. I blame my mum for this. She was a voracious reader and was a big fan of Catherine Cookson. One day she thought I appeared to enjoy reading comics (not just looking at the pictures), so she encouraged me to read by getting me my first library ticket.
The very first book I loaned from the library was Doctor Who and Death To The Daleks. After that I slowly moved onto reading some of the books my mum had. I have a fond memory of reading Catherine Cookson’s The Fifteen Streets and enjoying it.
I love reading fantasy, science fiction, action & adventure, and thrillers. My favourite authors are Stephen King, James Herbert, Clive Cussler, Dean Koontz, Audrey Niffenegger and Neil Gaiman. But out of all the authors that I have mentioned above, the one who inspired me the most was James Herbert. I was around 10 or 11 when I first read James Herbert’s The Rats and being so terrified by it, but still ended up reading the next book! His writing was so vivid and engrossing, to this day I still retain certain scenes in my head from that book.
I first started to write when I was 14, when I was given an assignment by my English Teacher to write a prologue for a story. Even though, I enjoyed the experience and wanted to write a book, I didn’t think I was good enough and believed a person had to be highly educated to write a book, so I put it on the back burner. But that desire to be writer was always hammering away at my subconscious and it wasn’t until I was approaching my 50th birthday, when I decided that I would write that book I had been putting off for so long. I felt if I wouldn’t do it now, I may never do it, so I sat to down to write the story I had been putting off for 30 odd years.
And so, in April 2020 my love of fantasy and science fiction inspired me to write my first book – Double Jeopardy – an intense science fiction thriller and the first book in my Mirror Wars series – it just so happened to contain nods to some of my favourite authors, films and TV shows that have ignited my imagination over the years. I also used my “experiences” of being a twin to help me write about evil doppelgangers! I am proud to say that in June 2021, I proudly self-published my first book.
My latest book is called Oracle’s Vision, and it is the second book in my mirror wars series. It was released on 1st January 2024. Like Double Jeopardy, it is a science fiction thriller with a wee smidge of horror thrown in for good measure. The story follows on from Double Jeopardy and follows the antagonist, Oracle who was revealed towards the end of book one. She is an insane AI who has delusions of ruling over all organic life across the multiverse (hence the title). I have started work on the next book in Mirror Wars series – The Custos Gambit.