Bruce L. Russell

My first novel, 'Jacob's Air', won a big prize here in Western Australia and encouraged me to keep going. I have since written four more novels and am in the process of converting them all into e-books. First up is 'Reunion', a tale of love in jeopardy, mateship in disarray, revenge and redemption. The book is set in The Royal National Park, south of Sydney. It delves into what happens when lifesavers turn to life wreckers and is my first real crime novel, complete with two female sleuths.

Before that I published 'Channelling Henry', which was also hailed as a crime novel. It began as noir, Henry Miller meets Raymond Chandler if you like, and is set in New York, where my wife and I and two daughters lived for a year at the turn of the millennium. We moved around a bit, but our most memorable stay was at the once famous - or should that be infamous - Chelsea Hotel.

Before Henry came 'The Chelsea Manifesto', which also saw some action at the Chelsea. I guess once experienced (before it was gentrified), it was impossible to forget. I write from life but I am essentially a creative writer, which means I make a lot of it up. I am presently working on a novel about my uncle, who was the bomb-aimer in a Lancaster in World War II. I am holed up in a studio at the back of my house, surrounded by portraits of my ancestors and pretty much in seventh heaven.