Solitude by Paul Beet

INTERVIEW WITH PAUL BEET

Q.     What was it that motivated you to write a story involving the politics of          Zimbabwe?

My wife and I lived in Zimbabwe many years ago just before independence. It was an amazingly beautiful country with beautiful people. A couple of years ago I stumbled across an article on the Internet that revealed the shocking truth about how dreadful the situation in Zimbabwe had become. I started to imagine how this would affect people that I had known and what was behind it all. It occurred to me that this was the kind of setting that you find in an action adventure story and that this was a story that had yet to be told. I wrote it as an action adventure, but it is hard to write about Zimbabwe without politics rearing its ugly head.

Q.     To what extent has your personal experience of Zimbabwe informed the          novel?

All the events and characters are fictitious, although some of them are based on loosely on people who I knew out there. It was however wonderful to be able to write about places that I was familiar with, like Victoria Falls and the Great Zimbabwe ruins.

Q.     Solitude is tentatively optimistic about Zimbabwe’s future. Where do you          see the country going?

The Zimbabwean people have proved that they are remarkably resilient. If they can hang on until Mugabe finally goes, (he is 87 and even he cannot go on forever!) then I think that there is every chance that Zimbabwe will rejoin the Commonwealth and that the members of the Commonwealth will help the country to get back on its feet.

Q.     Which writers have been your biggest influences on your own writing?

When I lived in Africa I loved the epic African sagas of Wilbur Smith. I should like to think that anybody who read those will enjoy Solitude.

Q.     What have been the reactions by people who have already read Solitude?

I have received excellent comments so far. Lots of people have said to me that they found the background of Zimbabwe fascinating and that it was a really good read!

Q.     Have you shown it to any Zimbabweans? If so what have they said?

No. Most of the people I knew in Zimbabwe have left because of the situation there, but I suspect that those who are left would find it rather controversial.

Q.     Can you let us into what your forthcoming novels will be about?

Solitude is my first published novel, but I have already completed another two books, both in the science fiction genre. The first, SALVATION is a space opera; the second is about time travel and is called ‘The Mists of Time’. They are intended for a teen/ young adult readership and I am talking to my publisher about them at the moment. The book I am working on at now, however, is another full blown action adventure story about Somali pirates and I am very excited about it. I am only about a third of the way in so far, but I think that it is going to make a really great book.