After 40 years (and counting!) of writing scientific papers, books and patents where almost every sentence needs to be justified with a reference, I suppose I longed for being able to write something which did not have any boundaries. Having recently become a part-time consultant scientist and with all four children having now left our house, there is now some time for me to let my mind wander through those things that do not need to be proved; do not have to be true. But the scientist in me hasn’t allowed me to stray that far from the truth or reality and that’s pretty much how I ended up writing ‘A Painkiller to Die For’ (2025). This was my second published novel after ‘A Practical Arrangement’ which came out towards the end of 2023 under the nom de plume of Verity Trevethan.

My third novel, ‘The Disappearance of Sarah Griffiths,’ has a publication date of 28th November and also has a smattering of science running through the plot. My editor has labelled this book as ‘Gone Girl meets Breaking Bad’ and I think I can see where she is coming from. It is a dark, domestic noir based around a young married couple whose comfortable existence is crumbling around them. The life changing events lead to the wife’s disappearance and a criminal investigation looking into the death of a small-time drug dealer. The novel asks questions to just how far we’ll go to protect the ones we love and the lives we’ve built and what we become when they start to fall apart.

Steve Sheppard was born and grew up in Surrey before moving to Buckinghamshire and then to Oxfordshire, where he spent a quarter of a century living in an idiosyncratic village that was the affectionate inspiration for his fourth book, Lazytown. He now lives in Hampshire. He spent forty years starting to write books but not finishing them, until belatedly realising that the key is not to give up. The other thing he has since learned is that he should have become a celebrity before writing a book, as this would have made selling it much easier.

False Connections, Steve’s fifth book, was published in June and is the first to be written as a straight thriller and not primarily as a comedy although, don’t worry, there’s still quite a lot of humour in it. He hopes it will be the first of a series featuring feisty, funny but flawed ex-MI5 agent, Mel Milano. He also has three spy thrillers with laughs to his name, all published by Claret Press: A Very Important Teapot (2019), set in Australia, Bored to Death in the Baltics (2021), not set in Australia, and Poor Table Manners (2024), which takes place in Cape Town. These feature an initially fairly hapless hero, Dawson, and a considerably less hapless heroine, Lucy, together with varied supporting casts, most of whom are not who they claim to be. Steve’s fourth book (as mentioned above) is an out-and-out comedy-murder-mystery, Lazytown (2025).

Russ Barr writes character-led fiction with heart and soul, sometimes dark, sometimes funny, but always trying to scratch beneath the surface of the human condition.

His debut novel, War Inc., is a darkly comic story about our insatiable appetite for content, and people who turn chaos into opportunity. He is also the author of the short story Crybully, published in 2024.

His current novel, Ten-Pound Note, is set in 1990s London and follows a single imperfect ten-pound note as it passes from person to person, revealing a chain of connected lives, bad decisions and unexpected consequences.

Russ is drawn to flawed characters, broken systems and the absurdity that often sits just beneath the surface of serious things.

“Jackie Holderness is the current Chair of the Oxford Children’s Book group, which has, for over 30 years, been bringing children, parents, books, illustrators and authors together. Jackie has authored a wide range of educational books and materials and has written an award-winning picture book, about the Anglo-Saxon Saint Frideswide: “The Princess who hid in a tree” (illustrated by Alan Marks and published by the Bodleian Library).

Books written and/or illustrated by fellow members of the OCBG may be available. Come and meet us and find out what the OCBG can offer your family or your local school….Learn more about the national Federation of Children’s Book Groups, of which we are just one branch.”

Sinoist Books is a UK-based independent press that publishes only the best in translated Chinese literature and contemporary fiction.

Our mission is to act as a bridge between the Chinese and English-speaking worlds, so that the best Sinophone authors and their works can transcend the language barrier.

The Oxford Independent Authors are a mutually supportive group of writers who meet to share expertise, preserving independence and joining together at collaborative events. The focus of this group is on marketing, promoting, selling and raising the profile of our writers.

If you are an independent author or working towards becoming one and would like more information please send an email to oxfordindieauthors@gmail.com.