Stephen M Davis

Hello all, and welcome to my author page. I grew up in the bomb-devastated East End of London just after WW2. My playground was the bomb sites where my grandparents lost many of their friends and family. Although times were hard, and money was short, I learned to value the small things in life. My mother, who found it difficult to navigate life due to mental illness and was a single parent, did her best. Mostly, I was offered some stability by my Grandparents. At the age of 13, I went to live with my previously estranged father in the Essex countryside. It was here that I blossomed. The wide-open areas stimulated my imagination, which has stayed with me. I loved to paint, write and fish. The school I attended valued individuality and indeed my English teacher said, “We all have 26 letters and the way you use yours, one day you’ll write a book.” It was my art though that took me into the commercial world. I attended Sir John Cass Royal School of Art and went on to become a graphic designer. Now in my early 20s, I realised the journey I’d chosen just didn’t suit my personality. I wanted to paint for me, not for the commercial world. I then followed a managerial career, painting and fishing in my spare time. At the age of 52, under a government spending review, I was offered early retirement. I know, right, 52 and retired, hmm. Anyway, after a few months of thumb-twiddling, and remembering the words of my English teacher, I decided to have a go at writing a book. Being an East End boy, my first attempt was a manly sci-fi-style book. Although I enjoyed the process and during that time, honed my control of the English language, something wasn’t right. A couple of years passed and then one night, by way of a dream, a time-twisting story came to me. At 02:00, I was up, at my keyboard and off and running. Rebecca had come to life. Not only did I find ‘my gal,’ I’d found my literary voice. As hard as it was to accept at the time, I realised I had a female written voice. Rebecca’s journey mostly focuses on female injustices. I take real historical events and offer them a fictional, alternative route. More than once, I’ve been called a feminist, which is kinda cool. So, how would I categorise Rebecca’s journey? Yeah, for sure it’s time-travel, but is it? Does she actually travel the corridors of time? Perhaps she is seeing past worlds through the eyes of another. Maybe she’s somehow inherited distant memories of past events? Throughout this process, I’ve allowed you, the reader, to decide where, when and how. My gal’ is fearlessly imaginative (like me), intrepid, courageous, and importantly chooses her direction. She’s 15 years old (going on 25, going on 10 some days) when the door opens for her. By Volume 6, she is in her late 40s. So, where next? Well, after a lot of editing, plot changes and removing anything that wasn’t taking the reader anywhere, I left her sitting on my laptop without a home. Then, after a lot of persuasion by my wife, I decided to set her free via Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing. Initially, this was a complex process, but my view was, ‘If you can pay someone to do something, you can teach yourself to do it.’ I did exactly that, from formatting Word documents right through cover design. I loved the idea that I had complete control of where Rebecca was heading. The thing is, I only ever intended to write one book, just to tick it off the list. I must say, when I gave her wings, boy was I nervous. What would the world think of me and my gal’? What I never expected was the fabulous reaction to Rebecca and my unique story-telling style. That was it, volume two was underway. Some 10 months later, it was published. Within two months, volume 2 had won ‘Book Talk Radio Clubs, Book of the Year 2019. Where next? Volume 3, I asked myself. My readers were certainly knocking on the door. And here we are, 2024, 6 volumes, an illustrated children’s book and an indulgent angling/fishing book. I think Rebecca’s story has now reached the end. Where to now? Well, there’s a new story rumbling in my head. Remember, a cup of coffee takes a few seconds for the barista to make and costs twice as much as Volume 1, which was years in the making. As with the coffee, if it’s not your cuppa, you can leave it and move on. Thanks for listening and thank you for giving my Rebecca a chance. Without you, she’s a no one. Please leave a review if you’ve enjoyed the journey.