Questions and Answers What are you currently working on? Third book in Time Shift Series: Rules of the Hunt; Return from the Hunt; Title? Sequel to The Knotted Cord (as Alistair Kinnon) -- a Police Procedural. A novel on the adventures of a young innocent in the Cold War Era. I frequently work on more than project at a time. Who (Fact or Fiction) would you most like to meet, and what would you ask them? Two people, Henry VII and Richard III. What really did happen to the Princes in the Tower? Is there a book or story you wish you had written? Yes DUNE! [Frank Herbert] Is writing your full time occupation, if not what is? Yes, it is now. I have been a freelance writer and editor for about ten years. What was your first professional sale? How did it feel when you received the acceptance? A short story sold to a small literary magazine in the UK for two pounds. This was while I was still a school headmaster. I was enchanted. I never cashed the cheque, I still have it framed! If you could give one piece of advice to a would-be author, what would it be? Never throw away anything you have written. Even if you can't use it in the current project it may fit into some other piece later. When did you first feel that you were an author? I prefer to consider myself a writer and editor - author always seemed to me to be a slightly pretentious title for what I do. As a freelance writer, essentially I write whatever anyone will pay me to write. However, my various employers in the past seemed to consider my reports works of fiction anyway so I started writing fiction in the mid- to late-eighties, so I suppose it was then I became an author. Are you for or against e-books? Most definitely for! However, at present ebook readers are too expensive for the general public to buy or use. Technically it should be possible to produce a dedicated ebook reader for a fraction of the current prices. As long as manufacturers insist on bundling ebook readers with all sorts of other functions such as personal memoranda, organizers, and address books the price will stay up and discourage purchase by individuals who simply wish to read ebooks. I would like to see a bubble-wrapped ebook reader, with several books already loaded, on sale at book stores at a price below $100. Do you prefer writing about the near future or the far distant future? To date my time shift novels have been about the past - eleventh/twelfth century Scotland, and, Ring of Stone, England at the time of the Peasant's Revolt (1381). Do you have a scientific background? Yes. B.Sc Math; B.Sc Hons Chem; B.Ed.; M.Ed. Psychology. I worked as an industrial chemist or chemical engineer for some time before I became a teacher. I taught Mathematics, Chemistry, and for a time Theory of Structures. Do You Always know a Story's Ending When You Begin Writing? Not always, but the sentence overheard: "I don't know where they've been or what they've done, or had done to them, but I wouldn't want to meet them in a dark alley!" made me wonder what could possibly make a psychologist say that about a group of early teenage boys. That and a local legend led me to write my time shift novel, Rules of the Hunt, in which the sentence comes in just a few pages before the final page. Have you won any awards for your writing? Yes: Ring of Stone Finalist (one of six) in the 2003 EPPIE Awards. Final winner to be announced in March 2003. Honourable Mention in International Literary Awards, Manuscripts International, Dayton. June 1990. Honourable Mention, Winnipeg Free Press, Canadian Authors Association Non-fiction Contest 1992. Second Prize in Canadian Authors Association, Manitoba Branch Adult Short Story Contest 1992. Honourable Mention, Winnipeg Free Press, Canadian Authors Association Non-fiction Contest 1994 Many Thanks, Hugh! Relevant Links Hugh McCracken Main Bibliography Hugh McCracken's Website BeWrite.net