David Williams
David Williams grew up as one of seven children in a mining community in the North East of England, a childhood he has written about with humour and affection in his popular collection of short stories We Never Had It So Good, published by Zymurgy.
While pursuing a varied career in teaching, entertainments, marketing and management development, eventually leading to the formation of his own successful company, David has also been a prolific free-lance writer, with many plays broadcast by the BBC, books and plays published by top education publishers in the UK, Australia, Germany and Scandinavia, and many credits as a writer and format creator for popular TV and radio quiz and game shows.
A member of The Society of Authors, David Williams is a regular contributor to the Society’s magazine The Author and writes occasionally for other magazines and periodicals. He has also written and produced educational and training videos, DVDs and software. David often performs at public readings, festivals, workshops and seminars.
As Close As You Are To Me is David’s third novel for Wild Wolf. His thriller 11:59 and his historical novel about the railway pioneers Mr Stephenson’s Regret both reached the semi-final stage of the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award and have garnered high praise from critics and readers alike. The Kindle version of 11:59 reached Number 1 spot in theUK thriller charts and Number 4 in theUSA.
David Williams has been married to schooldays sweetheart Paula ‘for years and years’. The couple have three grown-up children and three grandchildren, with more on the way. When not deep in writing or research David indulges his passion for snooker, demonstrating without shame a huge gap between enthusiasm and ability.
Listen to David’s interview on BBC Radio.
Follow his writer’s blog – Writer in the North.
11:59 was a semi-finalist in the 2010 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award and Mr Stephenson’s Regret was a finalist in the 2011 awards.
“A taut thriller … A near-cinematic stylist, the author deftly sustains the tension right up until the final segment … a sterling example of astute character studies melded with highly topical concerns.”~ Publishers Weekly (on 11:59)
“I absolutely loved this one. Full of seedy goings-on and laced with dark humour it had me looking forward to resuming the story every time.” ~ Ric’s Reviews (on 11:59)
“This richly detailed and meticulously researched storyline breathes life and a palpable sense of intimacy into these historical figures and immerses readers in an England embroiled in political and social upheaval as it teeters on the cusp of the industrial revolution.”
~ Publishers Weekly (on Mr Stephenson’s Regret)
“David Williams’ novel could open the genius of the Stephensons to a new audience and foster a wider appreciation of the great achievements of the nineteenth century.”~ J. Michael Taylor, Trustee of the Robert Stephenson Trust and a member of the Panel for Historical Engineering Works (on Mr Stephenson’s Regret)
As Close As You Are To Me
Alex Taylor is an unhappy and troubled man as he sits in the city park, but when he sees his teenage daughter Ruth walk by he is in turmoil. Ruth has been dead for more than a year. Paralysed by shock he loses the opportunity to pursue her, and she disappears through the gates. Doppelganger, ghost… or something else? Alex is determined to find the girl; he is convinced that doing so will solve for him the mystery of her death, and bring reconciliation with his estranged wife Karin.
But is Alex’s quest quite what it seems? We have his account, his point of view, but there is another voice to tell the tale, to offer a different perspective. A crime has been committed. Is Alex, as he claims, the innocent victim of a malicious plot to separate him from Karin forever? Is there another twist in a tale that winds and rewinds? And will there be a twist in Alex’s destiny as another woman enters his life?
More than a single linear narrative, more than a mystery, much more than a whodunit, As Close As You Are To Me presents a fascinating exploration of the human psyche and a different kind of love story.
Mr Stephenson’s Regret
This absorbing novel brings to dramatic life the pioneers of the railway age. Significant figures appear on the broad canvas of history – Wellington, Peel, Dickens and Queen Victoria among them – but the story belongs as much to the modest mining community that is home to George and Robert Stephenson in the early years, and to their intimates, not least the women in their lives (who have remained all but anonymous in the biographies).
Central to the narrative is the complex, often tense, relationship between father and son. Both have ambitions and desires that
provide the engine for their achievements but also create a crisis of conflict that threatens to derail their journey at a crucial stage.
In following their battles, personally and as a partnership, much is revealed about nineteenth century society – about class division,
self-interest and greed, indulgence and sexuality, repression and guilt – that may taint even the sweet taste of success.
11:59
UK Kindle Thriller Chart Number 1!
Who is Hassan and what is behind his mysterious Valentine message to Amina? Who is the young beauty chased across a lorry park in the early hours? These are the questions local phone-in host Marc Niven struggles with as he is drawn deeper into the city’s secret places. The question he already knows the answer to – why did Sam leave him so suddenly? – is the one that troubles him most.
