I started my first novel three years ago, having previously written only reviews for music magazines. It started out being just a book about interesting characters in a fictional town in England. Worryingly, a lot of the strange anecdotal scenes actually happened - most of them many years ago whilst I was growing up - and they obviously had a profound effect on me (some would say it explains a lot) as I included them in the plot. Then in the national newspapers I read about a Russian spy who'd been found living a normal life in a suburban street somewhere in the south of England; his neighbours having no idea as to what he really was. 'What a good idea for a plot,' I thought. 'There might be other spies hidden away in different communities.' From then on, my book took on a completely different direction which eventually became 'Far From View.'My second novel, 'Double Exposure' is set on the island of Madeira and although there is a tenuous link with the first book, the story stands alone and is one of love, espionage and betrayal. I hope that the reader finds it gripping as I've tried to write a story with more of an edge to it. There is even a little bit of sex in it, too!I would like to include paragliding, waterskiing, scuba diving and mountaineering in my list of hobbies, but in reality my interests include photography, watercolour painting and music; all of which are on the back burner at the moment while I write my third book. It's taking a bit of time as I'm inventing a completely new set of charac-ters and situations, but it should be out in 2013.Steve Wilkinson.