MICE AND EASY

‘It was a good forty years ago that I first entertained the idea behind my third novel, A World Ruled by Mice,’ writes subscriber John Phelps.

‘What would happen if power was turned upside down, with big animals weak and small ones strong? The idea did not linger for long, though. I had other things to think about… such as a young family and my job as a journalist in Cambridge.

‘I did, however, have a lifelong ambition to write a novel, and it was not long after taking early retirement eighteen years ago that I got down to it.

‘Much of my career had been spent writing about property. So my first novel, Agent From Hell, was, to the amusement of colleagues, about a crooked estate agent.

‘After resting on my laurels for a while, I then wrote Underbelly of Cambridge, a thriller with a focus on the local underclass plus a collection of short stories.

‘After that, I embarked on a whodunnit with a newspaper office as a backdrop.

‘Then, suddenly, that idea of forty years ago resurfaced. I don’t know why it did, but, for some reason I am unable to explain, I had to give it priority and put the whodunnit on the back-burner. Not long after that, Covid kicked in and, with more time on my hands, there was no excuse not to get cracking.

‘A World Ruled by Mice, a quirky, futuristic fantasy with a hint of what climate change can do, is now in print. The whodunnit is finished, too, but still sitting in my laptop.

‘The former can be bought through bookshops, such as Waterstone’s and WH Smith, online or directly through the publisher Matador.’