Simon Thompson
I started writing as a hobby about ten years ago. Most of my work was tailored specifically for radio with the ambition of writing sit-coms. When ten years passed without my ship coming in I decided to branch out and began work on the Peculiar Saga of Old Sheply. Within just under a year I found I had a novel on my hands and absolutely no idea what to do with it. That was until last summer when I announced as one of the winners of the Mardibooks/Ideas Tap short story competition and before I knew it I was published.
- Star Sign: Sagittarius . . . not that I think it makes the blindest bit of difference.
- Inspirations: Many and varied. From Spike Milligan to Bill Hicks, John Le Carre to Douglas Adams, Captain Beefheart to The Clash . . . and many more far too numerous to mention..
- Favourite books:The 'Hitch-hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy' series, Chester Himes’ 'Harlem Cycle', 'A Hundred Years of Solitude' by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, 'A Confederacy of Dunces' by John Kennedy Toole and pretty much anything that John Le Carre sticks his name to.
- Favourite film: 'King Kong' – the original 1933 version. No matter how bad my day’s been it always seems to make things seem that little bit better.
- Favourite food:Home made pizza – for the same reasons as above.
- Favourite places: I’d love to say some hidden beach in the Maldives or the reading room at the British Library but the honest answer is probably bed.
- Biggest challenge: At the moment it’s probably thinking of how to answer all these bloody questions.
- Things I've learned: As Lemmy from Motorhead once said: ‘The more people I meet, the more I like my cat’. Actually I’m not that much of a misanthrope . . . although I am very fond of my cat.
Quick bio