The Ronnie and Bernard Adventures
This is my exciting new series for 2023. If you are a fan of The Time Bubble books then I am sure you will love these. They incorporate everything you would expect in a book from me – humour, time travel, and lots of period detail. In addition, there are some minor elements of horror and the supernatural. They are very much in the style of the Time Bubble books but lean more toward the light-hearted end of the scale. Where they differ is that they have a twentieth-century setting – primarily the 1970s, as opposed to the more futuristic style of some of the Time Bubble stories.
The idea for these books came about from a conversation I had with my good friend, the actor, Michael Livesley. Along with him and another actor friend, Paul Carmichael, we created the characters of Ronnie and Bernard, initially intended to be played by Paul and Michael in a proposed film.
The film didn’t happen (not yet, anyway) but I felt there was huge potential in the idea, so I took the pieces of script Michael and I had written and expanded them into the first novel, The Crooked Line. It’s an absolute rollercoaster of a story, unashamedly paying tribute to countless pieces of 1970s culture, everything from Carry-on films to Scooby Doo. It’s packed with time travel too – to all sorts of historical eras and our present day too, but I won’t elaborate any further, because I don’t want to give away any spoilers.
So excited am I by these characters and their potential that I have already written the first three chapters of a sequel. This is going to be based around a pantomime in a haunted theatre in a fictional seaside resort in the mid-1970s. This one is fairly racing along. The humorous dialogue between Ronnie and Bernard almost writes itself. This one is also going to feature time travel and I am going to use the device of bringing a famous face from the past into the present day which I previously explored in Class of ’92. I hope to have this book out in the late spring or early summer.
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The Crooked Line
[The Ronnie and Bernard Adventures - Book 1]
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From the author of the bestselling Time Bubble series comes a nostalgic new series set in the 1970s.
More light-hearted and comedic than The Time Bubble books, The Ronnie and Bernard adventures take a tongue-in-cheek look at the era, fondly recalling some of the tropes and stereotypes of the time.
In 1972, Ronnie and Bernard are the stars of an afternoon soap opera on ITV. Ronnie is a hard-drinking, politically incorrect dinosaur with attitudes that were outdated fifty years ago. Bernard is a tortured soul trying to get over a broken marriage who rose to fame as a stand-up comedian on the working men’s club circuit. His star is in the ascendancy, whilst Ronnie’s, despite his grandiose claims, is very much on the wane.
When Bernard learns that his uncle has died, he and Ronnie travel to the will reading. They discover that all Bernard needs to do to inherit the entire estate is to spend the night in a country house. Thus begins an epic adventure involving mysterious apparitions from the past, an ancient stone circle, and a chamber beneath the house that leads to both the past and the future.
The Crooked Line is the first in a series of humorous novels set in the 1970s, with mild supernatural and science fiction elements. Anyone with fond memories of the films, television, and culture of the era will find plenty to delight them here.
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The Haunted Theatre
[The Ronnie and Bernard Adventures - Book 2]
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Coming May 2023.
Fans of the bestselling Time Bubble series will love this new time-travelling adventure set in a fictional British seaside resort in 1974.
After their long-running soap opera is axed by the network, actors Ronnie and Bernard face differing fortunes in their quest to further their careers. Bernard is much in demand, going straight off to film a new series of his sitcom. Ronnie, on the other hand, has a career that looks washed-up. When about the only offer on the table is to be the new Bungle in Rainbow, things are starting to look bleak.
When millionaire holiday camp owner, Bobby Burton, offers Bernard the starring role in his Christmas panto, he jumps at the chance, bringing Ronnie along for the ride. Together, they travel to the up-and-coming holiday resort of Skegmouth.
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After a weekend of mishaps and misunderstandings, largely due to Ronnie’s indiscretions, the pair finally make it to The Grand Theatre on the end of the pier. Rumours abound about the strange nature of the theatre, in particular regarding the mysterious disappearance of a music hall star back in 1906.
Ronnie and Bernard soon discover that the theatre is indeed not what it seems when they become trapped in time, with seemingly no means of escape.
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The Haunted Theatre is the second in a series of humorous novels set in the 1970s, with mild supernatural and science fiction elements. Anyone with fond memories of the films, television, and culture of the era will find plenty to delight them here.
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