The Next Big Thing is a chain of book and author recommendations – so far including authors such as Sarah Pinborough, Paul Magrs, Adam Nevill and Angela Slatter.
What happens is an author answers ten questions about their new/next/most recent release before tagging another five authors who have to do the same thing one week later. And we all Facebook and/or tweet about it.
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And here are the questions:
1) What is the working title of your next book?
Grey Man
2) Where did the idea come from for the book?
After having Hammered: Memoir of an Addict published, I wanted to delve into the criminal underworld in a fictional sense. This has been done plenty of times before, so I looked for an angle that hadn’t been taken as often: a more unique hook. I thought about making the protagonist a Special Forces soldier, having read plenty of Andy McNab and Chris Ryan, so I combined the two and gave it a shot. I know that Special Forces and ex-military protagonists are always popular (Jack Reacher, Nick Stone, Alex Morgan etc.).
3) What genre does your book fall under?
As stated above, it’s a crime thriller with military undertones.
4) What actors would you choose to play the part of your characters in a movie rendition?
For the lead character of Graham ‘Grey’ Man, definitely Callan Mulvey, the actor who played Mark Moran in Underbelly Series One and ‘Mark Anthony ‘Snoddy’ Spencer in the more recent Bikie Wars series on Australian television.
For the main antagonist, I would have to go with Robert Rabiah, who played Paul ‘PK’ Kallipolitis in Underbelly Season One, for his excellent portrayal of unpredictability and insanity while still remaining threatening.
5) What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?
Grey man is military/crime thriller that pits a Special Forces soldier against his brother’s killer, the criminal underworld and his own inner demons.
6) Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?
I will definitely be submitting to all the publishers. I like to take that road before I consider self-pubbing.
7) How long did it take you to write the first draft of the manuscript?
It’s still a work-in-progress. I’m over a third through, with a full chapter summary at hand to help with structure as I write.
8) What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?
Grey Man is like a cross between Underbelly, Jack Reacher/Lee Child and Andy McNab.
9) Who or what inspired you to write this book?
People like Australian author Greig Beck, with his military thrillers, as well as the writers of the Underbelly and Bikie Wars television series, which are always extremely popular.
10) What else about the book might pique the reader’s interest?
Grey Man is placed in two settings—Afghanistan during the opening phase of the War on Terror, and Melbourne, Australia, during the closing phases of the gangland war known as the Underbelly Murders. Both of these seem to be of interest at the moment, especially here in Australia.
Also of potential interest to readers, I have the experience to write the ‘underbelly’ side of things in a realistic and knowledgeable way, as a result of knowing and spending time with that dark-side of society for many years of my life.
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It seems I came in on the tail-end of this, and authors who haven’t take part are few and far between, at least in my network. Here are my three, rather than five:
Jaime McDougall, Author of Echo Falls
James A. Moore, author of way too many books and film/TV tie-ins to name here
Geoff Brown -Writer 
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