Ex-newsman Richard fulfils novel dream (From Bury Times)
When news happens, text BONEWS and your photos to 80360 or phone 01204 537274
Ex-newsman Richard fulfils novel dream
10:45am Friday 18th January 2013 in News
A FORMER Bury Times journalist is proving he’s still made of the “write” stuff.
Author Richard Lewis has published his first novel, The Revenants, under the pen-name LR David.
The 46-year-old, of Wilton Drive, Hollins, describes The Revenants as a “thriller with a supernatural twist, set mostly in Manchester”.
Manchester-born Richard worked for many years in local newspapers and is a former news editor of the Bury Times group. He also worked for the Co-operative in Manchester before leaving to set up his own business last year.
He took some time off to fulfil his dream of writing a novel and hopes to be able to balance his new career with writing in the future.
Richard said: “I have wanted to write for as long as I can remember. When I left the Co-operative in the summer I had a couple of weeks before my kids were off school where I could really just have a go. I did a first draft in a couple of weeks, writing around 5,000 words a day, just to see if I could actually do it.”
He enrolled some friends on Twitter to read through the first draft and spent a couple of months rewriting and editing the book.
“My intention was to write the kind of thriller I would enjoy reading on holiday, sitting by the pool. I didn’t go for great literature, just a good read.
“I decided to use a pen-name to carry on writing these kind of books, and then be able to write different things under my real name.”
His novel starts in AD70, telling of a century of crack Roman troops who chase a band of Celtic warriors into the mountains of North Wales, only to be slaughtered by a mysterious enemy.
Then in 2008, Prestwich-born archaeologist Elsa Chirk uncovers a long-lost account of the massacre andunravels a trail of mystery running through two millennia. Two years later, a mutilated body is found in an alley in Manchester’s Northern Quarter. Detective Chief Inspector Owain Davis and his team launch a murder investigation which draws them into the mystery being uncovered by Professor Chirk.
As the investigation continues the police uncover a turf war between an Eastern European gang with links to a mediaeval vampire cult and an enigmatic enemy.
Richard is setting up a website, lrdavid.co.uk for readers of the book to log on and find out more about the book and the characters.
l The Revenants by LR David is out on amazon.com (kindle edition and paperback) and lulu.com (paperback).
