Author Interview: Peter Marshall
Author Interview: Peter Marshall
Hey All!
Today is my stop on the The Russian Lieutenant blog tour and I am here today with an interview with the author!
Title: The Russian Lieutenant
Author: Peter Marshall
Publisher: Clink Street Publishing
Published: 26th March 2020
Format: Paperback
Source:: N/A
Add It: Waterstones. Goodreads.
Summary: When a Russian warship arrives in Portsmouth Dockyard, a handsome uniformed officer strides down the gangway to meet Marina Peters, an English girl of Russian ancestry, who had discovered him on a dating website. She works for the Royal Navy, so they have much in common.
What they do not know is that their romantic quayside tryst is being observed by agents from MI5, leading to a series of dramatic events involving the security services of the UK and USA.
Marina, a bright and intelligent thirty-year-old career woman, has been seeking something new in her life. So it is with a mixture of expectation and anxiety that she has “waited for her ship to come home”. But what follows is an unexpected introduction into the ruthless world of international espionage.
The Interview
What is your favourite thing about writing books?
Keeping the mind active and then seeing the finished MS, ready for publication!
Who is your favourite character in your book and why?
Actually, it is not Marina Peters, but Tom Spencer, the Deputy Director (Operations) at MI5, who is the quietly efficient and imaginative executive who directs the crucial actions in this story – and also carries them forward into the sequel!
What is your favourite drink to consume while writing?
Coffee (white, no sugar)
Do you have any bad habits while you’re writing?
Sitting too long at my computer without remembering to stretch my ageing legs.
How do you research your books?
It was not so much research as acquired knowledge (confirmed on Google) of real-life Russian spy events, plus personal experiences during my own career in the Navy and in the media world.
Are you a plotter or a pantser?
A “plotter” in the sense of creating the outline story idea – but a “pantser” in letting my imagination develop the story as I write… and not even knowing how it would end until I got there!
If you could live in any fictional world, which would you choose and why?
None that I can think of! All my favourite fiction is set in THIS world.
If you could befriend any fictional character, who would you choose and why?
George Smiley (by John le Carre). A mysterious man who knew much but said little – and with whom a series of long, private conversations as a friend would be revealing and intriguing!
About the Author
Peter Marshall was born in Wiltshire, educated at Trowbridge High School and began his professional life as a reporter with the Bath & Wilts Chronicle at the age of sixteen, a career which was interrupted by National Service when he joined the Royal Navy. Marshall gained an RNVR commission and served as a Sub-Lieutenant based in Portsmouth and Germany for two years, followed by seven years as a reserve officer.
He moved to Portsmouth and was Deputy Naval Correspondent for the Portsmouth Evening News before becoming a freelance reporter, representing most of the UK national press. He also worked for the BBC as a reporter on radio and TV before joining the BBC staff as a News Editor. He then moved to Visnews, a BBC subsidiary which provided TV news coverage for broadcasters around the world, where he became Executive Editor and then General Manager. During this period, he was elected as Chairman of the Royal Television Society in 1986.
At Visnews (which later became ReutersTV) Marshall played an instrumental and early role in developing the use of satellites for global news coverage, which led him to work in the United States for fourteen years, firstly with INTELSAT and then as President of Keystone Communications (now part of France Telecom’s Globecast network). While in the USA, he served as President of the SSPI (Space and Satellite Professionals International) and on his retirement, he was elected to the Society’s “Hall of Fame” in recognition of his pioneering role in the development of satellite services for international broadcasters.
In his retirement years, Peter Marshall has returned to his “roots” as a journalist, working as co-author and editor of numerous books related to the satellite and space industry with the acclaimed American space scientist and futurist Dr. Joseph Pelton. He went on to write two biographies and a travel book before turning to fiction and drawing on some of his past experiences for this, his first novel.
He now lives in Gillingham, Dorset, where he is currently busy working on a sequel to “The Russian Lieutenant” (as well as editing another biography!).
Follow the Tour
Will you be reading this book?
