Hi everyone!

I've been writing sci-fi for the last 11 years, so I'm a new kid on the block. I hadn’t really intended to write sci-fi, I prefer reading gothic horror if I’m honest, but being a scientist by trade (a cell biologist) and working on the principle that you should write about what you know, I started there. My first novel, ‘The Good and Evil Angels’ came about very naturally as a fusion of several ideas I had been carrying around in my head for years. Working in biology you do sometimes wonder why do we bother trying to work out how life works. Is there any meaning, any reason or rhyme to life? I’m not superstitious and don’t admire the sleight of hand logic of ‘belief systems’. I genuinely trust scientific method to give us the answers (note I sidestep the word belief here, and I’m aware that my trust could be seen as another belief system, it is just one that prides itself on objectivity and revision: Indeed as a professional scientist I am desperate to prove everyone else wrong all the time!!). On top of this angst is the nature of the mind. Where does it reside exactly? And how is it stored? Are psychoactive drugs a way of seeing the raw, exposed mechanism of the mind, truly insightful tools for exploring human nature; or are they merely a mirage, a fake mental state induced by random firings of the brain? Or both? Until science provides the answers I think there is room for fun, thrill-seeking and the things that human beings do best... making stuff up for no apparent reason.

I know my book is a bit literary in style for some tastes, a bit gothic maybe and without enough lasers and spaceships for some, but I hope it is thought-provoking and entertaining. I made it fast and furious, with short chapters as I do nearly all my reading on trains and buses and it is nice to finish at the end of a chapter (also...secretly it is more fun to write short chapters.. I’m a bit of a writing butterfly and some days you just fancy writing something a bit different: I hope it works!)The image above is a one-off for Scifireader... it's one of the original proofs for the cover. We settled on a different version, as it had more impact, but I love this version as it is closer to our original idea. It is a reworking of the painting 'The Good and Evil Angels' by William Blake.' It is a much misunderstood painting, and there are a number of elements of its symbolism that are in the book. Oddly enough it was not my initial starting point of inspiration, the painting was pointed out to me by my Mum who had read most of the first draft! Looking at it was a revelation. I retitled the book accordingly, but in truth I can't remember if I had settled on an original title... it seems a long time ago now!

My favourite works of fiction include Dracula (a wonderful romance really, magnificent), 1984 (George Orwell is my hero for so many reasons, politically astute, socially aware, a watcher, a REAL journalist and a genius). I would love to write anything that moved anyone as much as I was by these books. I really enjoy Ian Banks in all his forms, but particularly when he isn’t writing sci-fi. Mostly I love reading books a friend has given me. Then you get to read it on another level as you wonder what it says about them...

My second novel (Time and Motion) will be ready for release shortly. I wanted initially to create a new gothic monster, something that stole your subjective time, the way there are these people around whom you wonder where did THAT day go?? The book rather morphed into something else, something more sci-fi. I’m very happy with it but I still haven’t satisfied the gothic horror need in me; I just haven’t got the style yet. The third book (Called Ark Angel for now) is in the process... I appear to be fixated on certain themes... the nature of mind/soul/perception (you learn a lot about yourself when writing) and this book is exploring reincarnation in that context. I’m having a lot of fun with this one...but I’m trying to keep the pace down.... tricky! Good luck with your writing and reading. Please feel free to contact me on annexin2@hotmail.com... please check out MHAYESBOOKS.COM. All the best ...........................................................Matt