Expat writer’s magical mind leads to book deal

IN the current times of harsh reality EWN was lucky enough to delve into the vivid imagination of an expat writer and one half of the creative team behind the fantasy fiction or “Arctic Gothic Horror” novel The Reeking Hegs, who goes by the nom de plume Pete Peru.

Pete has been a resident in Spain since 1989 and is currently living in Sant Cugat, near Barcelona. The primary school children that he teaches at the Europa International School of Barcelona might be shocked to discover the fantastic journeys he has taken in his life which look to serve as inspiration for his first published book.

Pete’s writing of The Reeking Hegs began when he returned from a lengthy trip around South America, hence the “Peru” in his pseudonym. The name was given to him by friend and co-writer Lord Tupelo, or Bob, when they began an inventive way to put together their collective thoughts.

“We used to bounce ideas off each other, I would write some of it then pass it on to him. Bob could choose to follow the direction I was going or take the story in a completely different direction. A lot of was written under the influence of Bob’s home brew!”

This mixture has brought different factors to the book, for example, each chapter is a story in its own right, but they are all interconnected one way or another. Also, whether it be from the effects of the home brew or just to add a touch of fun the book uses lots of puns and made-up words i.e. Diablongi (Diabolical) and expressions i.e. “A tusk of sluice” = A pint of ale.

He added, “The bulk of the book was written in the ’80s, from about 1987 to 1992 when it was completed. At that point we tried to have it published, but with no success.”

The two lost touch over the years and it wasn’t until a couple of years ago when Pete discovered the folder whilst tidying up during a break from work that the project again saw the light of day.

“I decided to tidy it up a bit, rewrite it on the Mac and send it to publishers. I was amazed to receive an offer from Montag Press in America but had not spoken to Bob for so long and because he didn’t use social media was struggling to find him.”

In an odd twist of fate, Pete finally managed to find him in the place where all of us may logically start… through a friend that Bob played table tennis with!

The two have finally seen their extremely imaginative piece of work come together and it has now been released on Amazon both in a worldwide digital format and a paperback in the States.

The Amazon synopsis describes it as such, “The action takes place among the crashing ice packs, tidal waves and frozen desolation of old UGZCYK, a remote city somewhere north of latitude 66 ruled by the despotic SOLID KING SOLID FUME III, and menaced by the threatening horror of THE HEGS. Our hero is the plucky narrator NICK SEIGHTON, a Private Dick on a dodgy case, and clearly out of his depth in these here frozen parts. On a hunch, he makes a deal with the fiendish psychopath MR YICK, skipper of THE BLOOD SOAKED NOOSE, a deal that takes the reader from the verge of a story to the end of the book. Along the way he’ll be chased by the KING’S THING, kidnapped by SKIERS, acclaimed for his POETRY, and put on TRIAL for his LIFE.”

For Pete, it has reignited his passion for writing and he is already put his magical mind back to work on second novel The Red City, a science fiction story based at a time of the collapse of civilization, which he describes as the world’s first “POST-post apocalyptic novel”.

For those who wish to order a copy of Pete Peru and Lord Tupelo’s book, they can do so at the following link The Reeking Hegs.

If you enjoyed this “Expat writer’s magical mind leads to book deal”, you may also like to read “Expat’s books bring sisters closer together”.