THE DEBUT NOVEL
While it may seem strange that someone who was a full-time professional writer at the age of 20 only published his first novel five decades later, to Paddy it makes perfect sense. His view is that to write you need to have had experiences and done things. Travelling the world with countless film units, with a pop group and an air racing team has, he thinks, undoubtedly provided enough entertaining material for any number of books. A novel set in the film industry had long been on the horizon, but it took another, entirely different impetus to bring the first one to fruition. "UNSAFE -The Script of One-Zero-Three" is the result, while the sequel "UNSAFE -Still" is due out in 2023.
From schooldays he has held an enormous distaste for injustice, given that there was plenty of it about at his school. In 2001 he became aware that there were serious doubts about much of the evidence in the trial of two Libyans for the bombing of Pan American Flight 103 over Lockerbie. The more he read about the subject, the greater became his conviction that the story of the outrage and of what, it soon became clear, was a travesty of justice and a cover-up, would make a fascinating and dramatic feature film. The fact that the majority of the press and public had been taken in by a rather transparent fiction fired his sensibilities and made him determined to produce a screenplay that exposed the layers of untruth. As a long-time pilot, he not only empathised with the flight's crew and the other victims, but had a considerable understanding of the practice of aviation.
Cover Design by Safaya Salter
Click HERE to see the book on Amazon UK
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The story, however was not an easy one to tell and though he did eventually devise a format that would enable discussion of at least some of the alternative scenarios – and over time completed a considerable proportion of the script – he was never entirely happy with the work.
Realising that however good the screenplay might become, getting it read, picked up and produced would be a very difficult proposition, he made a decision to rework the subject as a novel. Almost immediately came the notion of making the novel about a screenwriter trying to sell very much the film script that he had been working on. Aside from any other advantages, basing the characters in the eccentric world of film-making offered the prospect of some lighter relief compared to the inevitable darkness of the main subject matter. The book was released in the Autumn of 2014 and has received consistently positive reviews and comments, with many readers praising the amount of startling factual information that the book imparts, information across a wide spectrum of subjects, embedded in what most agree remains an absorbing and tense story in its own right. Click to see a selection of READER'S COMMENTS. |
the introduction the back cover info
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This is a work of fiction, about a work of fiction, which focuses on a real-life event. That may sound complicated, but isn't, even though there is a widespread view that the public account of the event has itself been fictionalised. I hope the book makes it clear where invention stops and truth starts, and so helps the reader to decide if the facts in an endlessly fascinating and crucially important case have indeed been officially tampered with – and if so, how and why.
Twenty five years after the event, the Lockerbie bombing can still generate headlines and stir passions. Among those for whom the memories will never recede there are some who believe that the 2000 trial offered a measure of justice and others who feel it merely produced a scapegoat for an angry world. Even the first group would have to admit that justice was far from complete; one man could not have been responsible for the entire plot. Evidence of other conspirators has been suspiciously absent, meaning there are other parties not yet brought to trial. The case is thus, by definition, open. In this respect the two groups have more common ground than they may tend to believe. |
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This book has been gestating since 2001. Its own progress from then to now is a story in itself but has no place here. In successive forms and variations though, one aim has been paramount. Convinced that the victims and both groups of bereaved have been denied meaningful justice, I have striven to present the full range of facts in the hope that the opportunity for the public-at-large to re-evaluate and balance what they understand of Lockerbie may result in a much more widespread acceptance of that view. The truth is known and potentially available; all it requires is enough people to demand it.
In the dispelling of myths and even in the simple retelling of the tragic story, some raw nerves will inevitably be touched and for this I apologise. There is no alternative other than silence – and giving voice is done with the best of intentions.
Because any novel involving itself with history by nature encompasses both fiction and fact, I have included a bibliography, in the spirit of "If you find what is written here unbelievable, see what the real experts say." I thoroughly recommend all the authors and works listed.
It is worth underlining, because Lockerbie is patently an ongoing story, that UNSAFE is set in 2006 and takes no account of any developments since that time. I hope that when the time is right to revisit the subject and consider what revelations the intervening years have brought, there will significant progress to discuss.
AND THE GOOD NEWS IS that the sequel, "UNSAFE - Still" now does take the story, with its many new and shocking disclosures, forward from 2006 to 2020. LOOK OUT for its release in late Spring / early Summer, in time for holiday reading. OR register for notification on publication by using the CONTACT page on this site.
Click to see a selection of READER'S COMMENTS on UNSAFE - The Script of One-Zero-Three.
In the dispelling of myths and even in the simple retelling of the tragic story, some raw nerves will inevitably be touched and for this I apologise. There is no alternative other than silence – and giving voice is done with the best of intentions.
Because any novel involving itself with history by nature encompasses both fiction and fact, I have included a bibliography, in the spirit of "If you find what is written here unbelievable, see what the real experts say." I thoroughly recommend all the authors and works listed.
It is worth underlining, because Lockerbie is patently an ongoing story, that UNSAFE is set in 2006 and takes no account of any developments since that time. I hope that when the time is right to revisit the subject and consider what revelations the intervening years have brought, there will significant progress to discuss.
AND THE GOOD NEWS IS that the sequel, "UNSAFE - Still" now does take the story, with its many new and shocking disclosures, forward from 2006 to 2020. LOOK OUT for its release in late Spring / early Summer, in time for holiday reading. OR register for notification on publication by using the CONTACT page on this site.
Click to see a selection of READER'S COMMENTS on UNSAFE - The Script of One-Zero-Three.
Me with Broch Salter-Carpenter, the proprietor of Grey Dog Books.
