A story out of this world: Castlederg man publishes second novel

A YEAR after self-publishing his debut book, 'Sandra Kellie', Castlederg’s Stephen A. Corry has completed his second novel - a comedy sci-fi entitled 'Luxury Space Caravan'.

“I was raised on all things space and science fiction; Doctor Who, Space 1999, and Star Trek especially," Stephen explained.

"When I was about ten, I had a great fascination in HG Wells’ War of the Worlds. Even today it’s a chilling and captivating story.

“Writing something sci-fi was a thing I just had to do. I’ve already penned a short sci-fi series that is undergoing work to get it up to final editing level, but that’s something for the future.

“Luxury Space Caravan is a humorous story that came about quite by chance. It was a Sunday afternoon in 2004, when I lived in Australia.

"There was nothing on TV as usual, and I channel surfed on to a show about posh looking caravans.

“I thought one of them looked more like a luxurious spacecraft than a caravan.

"At that moment the title struck me - Luxury Space Caravan. I thought it made for a good story title. Right then I grabbed a notebook and started scribbling ideas."

He continued: "I continued to develop the story between other writing projects. I really enjoyed writing LSC. It was a story I wanted to keep on writing, but it drew to its own natural conclusion.

“In one chapter I pay homage to one of my childhood favourite singers - Gary Numan. If you’re a fan, you can go looking for the clues in the obvious chapter.

“There’s a lot of me in most of my stories. The reason for choosing Stilton for location opener is that my family and I once lived there, and also my late great aunt, who originally came from the Castlederg townland of Freughlough, so that’s why I wanted to pay homage to Stilton, and that’s where this story begins.

“I like spontaneous and satirical humour, and I hope my story will give readers’ a smile and a chuckle.”

Stephen wishes to convey his appreciation for the support and encouragement he has received for his work, especially one lady.

“A lady told me she was so inspired by my story, Sandra Kellie, that she joined an adult creative writing course," he said.

"I was quite touched by that.

“I must add a huge thanks to Moira and the wonderful ladies at The Bus Stop Cards & Gifts store in Castlederg, who have been super amazing.

"They’re a great team. I will be selling limited print copies of LSC through them again.”

Stephen is already editing his next book.

“I have eight other completed stories, and the sci-fi series," he added. "I tended to flick from one project to another as ideas came to mind; too many irons in the fire, but now they’re completed I want to focus on getting them sorted for publishing.

"My next book will be a fantasy adventure set in Ireland. I finished writing it back in 2004, so that will keep me busy for a few months now.”

'Luxury Space Caravan' is about Stan, who lives a quiet life running his high street coffee house, until he meets Mark.

How could Stan know Mark was an alien?

Mark has a lot of problems in his life. Stan gets mixed up in them all.

When Stan mistakes Mark’s spacecraft for a caravan, he becomes an unwitting passenger.

Stan knew little of the chaos and dangers that lay ahead, nor the troubles of finding a teapot that wouldn’t dribble.

With Christmas coming up, the book would make a nice stocking filler for someone.

'Luxury Space Caravan' is available from Amazon, The Bus Stop Cards & Gifts (Castlederg), and Bookmundo.

Or, visit:

stephenacorry.wixsite.com/sac

publishuk.bookmundo.com/sac