Retired NHS Consultant finds a productive balance between his passion for diving, a flair for fiction and a love of life on the river.
Unable to pursue his love of diving due to the pandemic restrictions, David M Allan has instead made good use of the time, writing another insightful fantasy novel.
Elsewhen Press is a publishing house specialising in high quality, entertaining and thoughtful speculative fiction, often addressing current, real-world issues through a fictional prism. To date, they have published three novels by writer, David M Allan, a retired NHS Consultant.
In retirement, David has to some extent replaced the intensity and excitement of life in the NHS with a passion for diving. “I didn’t start diving until I was 58,” he says, “and I regret not having started earlier.”
Now an accomplished underwater photographer, he has dived extensively, in the warm, clear waters of the Red Sea, Indonesia and the Maldives. But, not content with spending as much time as possible under the water, David has gone one further and chosen to live on it. In addition to discovering a love of diving, David has also, in retirement, become a published novelist, exchanging the necessarily clinical sterility and reassuring solidity of the hospital environment for the gentle rocking of a houseboat on the Thames, where he now lives with his wife.
After the fast pace of his NHS career, David’s routine is dictated now by the patterns and rhythm of life on the river…
River-craft generally travel at low speed, their gentle wash causing little problem for moored boats such as David’s, but passing traffic is always felt. However, far from being disruptive, David finds activity on the water soothing, even helpful when he’s writing. He says, “What I see from my window as I’m writing are tour boats, rowing boats, kayaks and paddle boards. They are slightly distracting but also relaxing, as are the various waterfowl that inhabit this stretch of the river. You could even say the birds are, to some extent, inspirational as the constant movement stimulates me.”
From time to time, the calm flow of life on the river is interrupted…
Emergency service vessels are permitted to travel at higher speeds along the river and, occasionally, one will race past David’s houseboat. Indeed, Peter Buck, Editorial Director at Elsewhen Press, said “We were talking to David about his latest book, Thiever, recently and he mentioned that an emergency boat had just gone by and had literally ‘rocked the boat’. Not that David was complaining: he’d had to hold on to his computer as things slid about, but nothing was damaged and David certainly wouldn’t want the emergency services to have to slow down.”
The Covid pandemic has led to a severe curtailment of diving opportunities, but this has allowed David to concentrate on his writing. And he has used the time well, completing a sequel to Quaestor, his popular fantasy novel. Entitled Thiever, this continues the story of two young women from different cultures, backgrounds and races, who not only find love together but challenge a false god, help a beleaguered king, and sow the seeds of equality in a hierarchical society.
Thiever is now available in eBook format on most platforms and will be out in paperback in November.