Searching for biological father - new book from Herstmonceux author

The book is available to buy online via the websites Amazon and www.fishfarce.co.uk.

As Ian, aged 74, explains: “Fish Farce is set in the fictitious seaside town of Cocklebury-on-Sea. It is about a young man on a search for his biological father.

"His only clue is a photograph.

"Along the way he meets dead ends and disappointments, falls in love and eventually finds the strange circumstances that led to his existence.”

Ian added: “I have written articles for publications and short stories for fun and wanted to write a novel. The seed of the idea came to me and I started to write bits of it until the characters grew and I realised I was having fun. Terry Pratchet once said that writing is the most fun you can have on your own. I know this is an old cliche but the story seemed to write itself. The first chapter written after a lot of the rest was nearly done was an intriguing hook to draw the reader in.

“There are no sequels planned but I have since written a horror novel – something I have always wanted to do being a big Stephen King fan and a fiction of the smuggling that went on along the south coast based around a real group called Jevington Jiggs, Cream Pot Tom and Rook (a highwayman) – just the names are a gift to a writer.

“My only other publications are cookery books namely Fish Bananas – I know, fish again! – and something called The Secrets of the Hungry Monk.

“I started writing articles and for a time I wrote a regular piece for a trade magazine called The Restaurant Business and also had articles appear in The Oldie and The Guardian.

"I also do a lot of talks on various subjects via a website called Public Speakers Corner. I have 24 booked for this year.”

Ian added: “I only discovered just last year that my uncle was Ronnie Biggs – a fact our mother had kept from us and a secret she took to the grave with her.”