My Themes

I have consciously woven several powerful themes through my writing and I am going to explain more here. No theme takes precidence over another, as they are all close to my heart - and have been organised alphabetically.

#MeToo

While the #MeToo movement started earlier, it was the revelations about Harvey Weinstein that truly set it alight. It is not my intent to provide a history of the #MeToo movement. Rather to provide a social commentary and to explore it through the platform of fiction. Please notice that I have differentiated it from any idea of Consent which, while related, is not the same thing.

Consent

Where there is no consent there is only abuse...

This is a point that I have made repeatedly throughout the trilogy. However, it is only when I give myself, rather than one of my characters, the final say at the end of Book 3; The Journey Home that I provide the fullest definition I could. I had to wait this long as to do so earlier would run the risk of spoiling the major revelation that finally comes out...

"Empty Religiosity"

Before I get into this theme, I want to make it very clear that I do not have an axe to grind with religion or faith itself. However, the purpose of any faith system should be to lift and give people hope. The sad fact is though that if only some of the tenets of any religion are adhered to and others ignored it can have the opposite effect.

Such people often display the outward signs of being religiously observant and pious, but at times feel woefully...

LGBT+

There is a paradoxical approach to my dealing with this theme, but what I have aimed to do within my novels is write about it without actually writing about it. I’m probably not making any sense, so give me a bit a wiggle room and I’ll explain.

However, before I go any further let me explain my usage of the term LGBT+.

Self-Esteem

At the risk of being controversial, self-esteem issues, regardless of their outworking revolves around self and nobody else. I am not saying this unsympathetically. It is just a statement of fact.

In cases where people have too much self-esteem, too much of a high opinion of themselves it leads to arrogance, hubris and at times narcissism...

Self-Harming

Self-Harming is an affliction caused by acute mental stress. I am no psychologist and cannot even begin to explain the reasons why beyond a genuine and intuitive feeling, a kind of gut instinct that I have come to trust more and more as I get older.

You've read my books for yourself so you can judge for yourselves how “in touch" I am (or not, whatever the case may be)...

"True BDSM"

Before embarking on writing, I had a vague idea of what the world of BDSM entailed, much of it informed by common media stereotypes and of course what could be called ‘rumoured impressions’ of Fifty Shades of Grey – a story that everybody seems to know about, irrelevant of whether they have read the books or watched the movies.

My research for the novels took me into some dark places; places that I’m not sure I should ever share on here. Let’s just say I had to be broadminded...