Robert J. Clark

I began writing in the 1970's while still at school. This was the pre-digital age when everything was done longhand and corrections required rewriting a whole page of A4. Untidy handwriting, or messy corrections led to a lot of work trying to figure out what the corrections was. Publishing was a matter of luck, or knowing the right people. The preparation of manuscripts to rather strange guidelines add to the nightmare and cost. Much of my early work therefore remains undigitised and read only by close friends. I am working in the background to bring some of it to the digital age, but a lot will remain unpublished.

Inspired by authors such as Tolkein and Moorcock and Arthur C Clark (no relation) I slowly developed my own voice and style. At first, typical of the 70's I wrote in what I coined 'poetic prose'. I thought it was beautiful, flowing and graceful, but on rereading one of my very first novels, I realised that often the careful crafted wordplay could obscure the narrative. I recently heard a little of Dylan Thomas and was surprised at the similarities as I had never read anything by him before.

Work and relationships slowed my output, but honed the style. Soon I had found my true writing style. The revelation came after a friend remarked that a short story I had shown him was really a novel trying to get out.

It did. That was 'The Crystal of Mamanoth'. Seven more novels followed in quick succession. My friend was right, in those 26 hand written pages was a lot of creativity trying to escape onto the page.

After the seven I had another book planned, but the real world interrupted my muse and the story faded. It remains part written and may, one day, be finished.

Darker story lines then began to interest me and I began writing Dark Fantasy novels. These were 'Soul Key' and 'Angel of St Philips'. Others followed. All used biblical or mythical influences, along with my interest in the supernatural and those readers who have commented have liked the originality and twists.

In 2019 I celebrated the publication of the 'Tynasian Sequence' with a special 21st anniversary definitive edition. This is a complete rewrite of the first five novels combining them into one book. The new work takes on board all the feedback from my readers worldwide and I am extremely proud of the result.