Who is David Shaw?

During the last few weeks, during the flurry of book launches, first Cathie Dunn's Dark Deceit, followed by Mandy James' Righteous Exposure and then my own Filey Connection, Crooked {Cat} Publishing put out a brief announcement to the effect that they had signed up David Shaw.

But who the hell is David Shaw? We're told that he's written a psycho-sci-fi thriller entitled Voices, but that's it. We can't find a picture of him and he's not even listed under Crooked {Cat}'s authors. Google the name and you get all sorts of listings, but nothing that resembles a novelist specialising in thrillers.

But I know all about David Shaw. Why? Because David Shaw is me.

Now you're all groaning and saying, "Tell us summat we don't know."

Why the need of a pen name? Under my real name, David Robinson, I turn put fairly light-hearted stuff. The Sanford 3rd Age Club Mysteries are cosy crime and you'll find a vein of humour running through them. The same applies to my 77p Space Truckers shorts. Even my latest project (super secret for the time being) crime capers of the more adult kind, are fairly laid back.

But I do write much darker material. The Handshaker is an example, and so, too, is Voices. They are gritty tales, usually with a heavy psychological bent, which rely partly on sci-fi themes, or at the very least stretch suspension of disbelief much further than David Robinson's works.

When self-publishing, I made the mistake of putting out The Handshaker and Voices under the name David Robinson. It serves only to confuse readers. They can pick up The Filey Connection and then find The Handshaker written by the same man, yet the two are light years apart both in terms of approach and content. It's an error I can't yet put right regarding The Handshaker, but when I offered Voices to Crooked {Cat}, and they accepted, it was the perfect opportunity to divorce the works of David W Robinson and David Shaw.

Voices is scheduled for publication some time in May, and I'll have more to say about it then. In the meantime, watch this space and listen.

You cannot ignore the voices in your head.