What is Sierra about?

SIERRA is a magical journey through a world of pop culture peppered with rock stars, pop musicians, pick-up artists, angels, a landscape designer, a defrocked Buddhist monk, a woman searching the globe for love, and a monkey whose loyalty has no bounds.

It all starts with a strange rain falling… Diarmund Gavin, landscape designer extraordinaire erects a Tower of Babel in a quaint English suburb; Sting, rock star visits the healing town of Abidainia, and is left with a riddle that follows him all the way to British Columbia; Boz Scaggs writes a haunting song in a downtown L.A. motel and disappears to later resurface at an enchanting Redwoods concert; Snow a beautiful woman, cannot find love and is given an angelic message which has her searching the seven seas and the highest mountains; Jaco Pastorius travels to Norway where he befriends an odd musician and witnesses the greatest rock concert ever; and a loyal monkey gives up his life in a story of trust and betrayal.

Ultimately, SIERRA is a gob-smacking tribute to rock and roll and all the adventures in between, as narrated by an engaging spirited young pop journalist to a crusty old judge who she befriends, while being romantically pursued in a small town where she sojourns even though we don’t know why she has chosen to visit there.

But in the end SIERRA’s message is deeper than just a rock and roll adventure. We finally learn life is as intangible and illusive as a song and the memories it leaves behind…

Why two books? Is it one continuous story?

Although, SIERRA is in two volumes it is one continuous story. It was divided up due to its length. Like a record which has two sides I wanted to write my book to play like an old fashioned vinyl album.

What genre is it?

Fantasy, magical realism, Adventure.

What kind of readers will it appeal to?

Those who like a good yarn, addicts for adventure, also people who love music and the daft things it makes us do .. I particularly think subscribers to music magazines such as Rolling Stone, Spin, Uncut, Mojo, NME just to mention a few will find a special place in their hearts for it.

How long did it take to write?

About 5 years, besides its edit. All written largely between 12 to 3 in the morning.

What was the most challenging part of the process?

Nothing really, I loved doing it … maybe staying awake and finding the time to finish it.

Tell us a bit about yourself.

I love music, especially the creative process … my inspiration for the book are the songs and the musicians who write and play them; otherwise I am a Brit by birth but have been living in America for the past 25 years.

What’s next?

A collection of short stories almost complete… best described as a compendium of hallucinatory tales, none of which could be closer to or further from the truth .. I like to think of SIERRA as a travelogue of the spirit, whereas my new book is a travelogue of the soul, if there is such a difference…