FROM sci-fi to the celestial ? West Devon author Andy Secombe takes us once more into the realms of comic fantasy with his latest novel Endgame (Tor £10.99). This engaging, irreverent and hilarious melting-pot of sci-fi, comedy, drama and romance is published tomorrow (Friday). The wicked imagination of Secombe conjures a story that oscillates between Heaven and Exeter. With God throwing a party to celebrate the creation of Adam and Eve and an angry Lucifer uninvited the plot is set for some stormy times ahead. With a bet on between Lucifer and God with the world as the wager the lot falls on an unsuspecting Exeter dentist to save the planet! ?What I like is the juxtaposition between the mundane and completely way out. Having said that all good stories have to have a basis of some truth. It cannot be completely fantastical. You have to have a basic underlying of truth for the reader to respond to.? Secombe admits liking writing about places that are familiar to him ? previous books have featured Tavistock and Dartmoor. But he decided in this instance Tavistock was a little too close for comfort. ?I chose Exeter because I didn?t want my dentist thinking it was about him!? he grins. Endgame is his fourth novel. He writes for about six hours a day and aims to produce up to 1,500 words in that time. ?I slow down at the end. There is a reluctance to say goodbye to the characters because they are real. They become your friends. They also have a life of their own. I always know when a character is starting to breath when I write a line they need to say plot-wise and I know they wouldn?t actually say it,? says Secombe. ?The job is to put yourself in a space where that can happen. A lot of the best writers maintain that they have little to do with the writing. Because you are one step removed from your imagination they can do the most appalling things that have nothing to do with you!? Endgame grips the reader with a labyrinthine narrative that loops between hell, heaven and earth, the past and present day. The fantasy is underpinned by Secombe?s wit, skillfully inserted historical reference and vividly created protagonists. Andy Secombe will be holding a book signing at Book Stop in Tavistock on Friday, September 22 between 10am and noon. ROGER MALONE
