I worked in a local charity shop while I wrote my novel – After failing to get the grades needed to go to my university of choice once I had finished college, I decided to take a job at a local furniture store that specialised in helping the under-privileged while I worked on completing my novel. I have always had an overactive imagination and as the work needed to complete my day-to-day tasks was very sporadic (consisting mostly of standing around and waiting for deliveries to arrive or lengthy van drives), this gave me plenty of time to formulate my story’s narrative, its characters, and the themes that I wished to explore through my writing. Overall, I can say that the experience was a most positive one, which I will look back on with fondness knowing that much of my book’s origin came from long van journeys travelling across East Sussex helping the people who needed our assistance the most.
Michael Georgiou
I was a terrible student – I think like most teenagers I was more interested in partying and hanging out with friends then I ever was in my own studies. Due to this the grades I got took a bit of a beating. I even failed my English GCSEs and had to retake them to get a pass grade.
I wrote ‘To Tame the Sentry Being’ to help combat my insomnia – Many to whom I showed early drafts told me it feels like a ‘nocturnal read’ which I guess makes a lot of sense seeing as I wrote the book almost exclusively in the early hours of the morning. As I ended up naming the series ‘The Endless Dreams Saga’, you could perhaps say this was a blessing in disguise!
I have two older brothers who are also in the creative field – One is a musician/games designer while the other is a budding film director; so who knows maybe it is in the genes!
Although ‘To Tame the Sentry Being’ is a fantasy novel, I am not a particularly big fan of the genre – I think I enjoy the idea of fantasy more than I do its application. There are some exceptions to this, most notably George R. R. Martin’s ‘A Song of Ice and Fire’. Usually whenever I read fantasy novels I get slightly turned off by the long-winded names that can often leave the reader feeling a little confused and thinking, “Is this the name of person or a castle?”
I originally studied to become a script writer – Ever since I was young I knew I wanted to create my own stories. I even wrote many scripts as a child, some dating back to when I was ten years old.
When I was a teenager I created a YouTube sketch show – One that was kind of in line with Monty Python or The Fast Show. We parodied everything from Star Wars to Bargain Hunt. However, these were all utterly awful and should not be viewed by anyone!
To Tame the Sentry Being is a topical fantasy war novel, set in the distant reaches of the Universe. It follows two brothers as they fight for survival. Ideologies are tested – mysteries are unravelled – but which of the brothers will succeed in their mission? It’s available to buy from Amazon, The Book Guild and all good bookshops.