Ted Tayler - Justice is Not Being Served
According to author Ted Tayler, the core message in all his novels is that today justice is not being served. The Phoenix believes criminals should pay for their crimes; the current system fails to deliver the correct punishment. Olympus agents help him redress the balance. Tayler thinks of himself as a storyteller. There's always a rich vein of material for him to include in his books from news headlines. Ted Tayler was born in Corsham, Wiltshire in 1945. When he was five years old his family moved five miles up the road to Melksham. He's lived there ever since. Ted's been married to Lynne since 1971. They have 3 children and 4 grandchildren. As our Author of the Day, Tayler tells us all about, The Olympus Project, the first book in the 12 book series featuring The Phoenix.
Please give us a short introduction to what The Olympus Project is about.
Rescued by strangers from a watery grave and given a new identity. The Phoenix is a stone-cold killer. An ideal fit for the Olympus Project, a secret organisation fighting injustice. In the first story in this thriller series, Phoenix meets the five senior Olympians who occupy the Project’s HQ at Larcombe Manor. Erebus, the elderly gentleman who started the Project. Athena, his beautiful lieutenant. Minos, Alastor and Thanatos, all of whom had a personal reason to join the cause. Phoenix soon demonstrates his ability to exact revenge and right wrongs in his inimitable style when he carries out three solo missions. Erebus is content but is concerned whether his protégé can take the final step. Always a loner, can Phoenix work as part of a team to prevent a terrorist attack in Central London?
What inspired Phoenix' character?
I had effectively killed off Colin Bailey, the main character from my first two novels, and was planning a switch to a cozy detective series. My wife pestered me to keep writing about the ‘bad guy’. She thought Colin Bailey was more interesting. So, for ‘The Olympus Project’ he was saved from a watery grave. I came up with the code name ‘Phoenix’. After that, names from Greek myth for the leaders of the secret organization seemed a logical step. The Project is the smokescreen the organization uses to hide its true purpose. The outside world believes ‘The Olympus Project’ is a charity (like Help For Heroes) for soldiers returning from action with PTSD. Its true aim is to bring justice where the system fails.
Did you plan from the start to make this into a series? How do the other books in The Olympus Project tie in with this one?
I initially planned a trilogy. However, I had so much fun writing the first two books that I decided to continue. ‘Nothing Is Ever Forever’ was the title I had decided on for the final book and I kept it even though the content was light years from the initial story line. If I was going to extend the series I realised I needed additional characters to provide fresh story threads to keep readers engaged.
What makes a vigilante justice story so appealing?
I try to create engaging characters, true-to-life scenarios of horrible crime, instances of justice denied, and develop workable plans to make unsuspecting offenders meet their demise in ingenious ways. Paedophile crimes. Drug dealers. Swindlers. Terrorists. Nothing escapes the Olympus Project’s notice, or swift justice. When has the vigilante assassin ever had such a rich field of potential victims? There’s no shortage of material for a writer working in this genre. What appeals to the reader in these stories? I think they like to see the punishment fit the crime even if it’s only in fiction these days.
Your books contain a lot of twists. Do you plan them all out before you start writing, or do some of them just "happen" along the way?
I’ll sit on the fence with this question. I prepare a rough outline for each chapter with specific twists where I feel they should be introduced. These chapter outlines merely serve as signposts. I set off on the journey between Point A and B, but I let the characters take me wherever they wish to go. I end up in situations I never dreamed of, with twists I didn’t see coming, but I make sure I get back to Point B before travelling further. That’s what works for me.
Are there any books or writers that have influenced your work?
As a young man I read everything I could lay my hands on. All the works of Shakespeare, Dickens, Conan Doyle and Christie without exception. Something from all manner of writers and genres, including French and German literature too. Anything that grabbed my interest. Since I retired, I read and review perhaps 150 to 200 books each year. I prefer thrillers. In the past 10 years I’ve sampled the odd book or devoured whole series by leading authors in the genre. Whether any of them influence what I write, I couldn’t say. I believe I have my own style.
Do you have any interesting writing habits, what's your average writing day like?
When I’m writing, I start work at nine in the morning. I set aside thirty minutes to deal with emails, social media, and promotions. After a short break I write for two hours. My wife and I then have lunch together before she orders me back to work! The length of time I work in the afternoons varies between two and three hours. My target is an average of two thousand words a day. Some days it’s easier to achieve than others; and if I haven’t reached that number in the afternoon, I might return for an hour in the evening. I’ve never suffered from writer’s block, so the ‘overtime’ isn’t necessary that often. A day’s work has produced as little as 750 words, and as much as 4000. I maintain two thousand words a day without too much trouble.
What are you working on right now?
After ‘Larcombe Manor’ the twelfth and final book in the Phoenix Series was completed in April 2018 I lay down my pen (figuratively). I had published 18 titles and wasn’t sure there was anything left to add. Perhaps, it was time to chill out and enjoy my retirement? It was my wife who prodded me into trying something new. I was getting under her feet, not being shut away in my study for weeks at a time!
The Freeman Files is a six-book series featuring an ‘old school’ policeman brought out of retirement to tackle some of the region’s most stubborn cold cases. So, who is the leading man and what sets him apart from other police procedural staple characters out there? Gus Freeman is 61 years old. The retired Detective Inspector lives in a village on the outskirts of the West Country town where my first novels were set. A fictional town that borrows elements from the half-dozen small towns that surround my family home. It lies approximately ten miles from the Roman city of Bath – which is where The Phoenix series was centered. Larcombe Manor stood several miles out of the city, closer to Bristol and the coast.
Freeman has spent the past 3 years tending his allotment. A peculiar British tradition that is a carry-over from WWII and the ‘Dig For Victory’ campaign. As he surveys his handiwork sitting outside his garden shed, he ponders his night-time reading. He’s a fan of Kierkegaard the Danish author considered to be the first existentialist philosopher.
Freeman's wife, Tess, died from a brain aneurysm six months to the day after his retirement. Gus is still coming to terms with his enforced solitary existence. Then comes a phone call from the county police HQ. His old boss wants him to head up a Crime Review Team investigating cold cases. His trips to the allotment would be curtailed. The evening musings would be clouded by old witness statements and freshly unearthed clues… the hunt would be on. Freeman wonders whether his superiors really need his old style policing methods, or is the request out of pity? To occupy his mind with some fruitless digging into age old cases the best young brains failed to crack.
Budget restrictions mean the team at his disposal will be small. I’ve chosen three characters that I think will appeal to readers. If you want to learn about them, my next blog post is scheduled for the first week of July. All will be revealed then.
Book #1 ‘Fatal Decision’ will be released for Christmas 2019
Where can our readers discover more of your work or interact with you?
My website: http://tedtayler.co.uk/home
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ted_tayler
Facebook: https://facebook.com/EdwardCTayler
Instagram: https://instagram/tedtayler1775
You can always get in touch through those avenues. I’ll be glad to hear from you. Similarly, you can hunt me down at Goodreads, Bookbub, All Author and Amazon Author Central.
