Published on Oltobooks.com - 9th February 2022 This is the transcript of an online interview I did for Olto Books. Olto Books: Tell us a little about yourself and your background. Nick Hirst: I’m from England, the suburbs of London, and went to school in Wimbledon. After that, I trained as an actor, subsequently working... Continue Reading →
People smuggling in Saudi Arabia
An author insight by Nick Hirst. How do you get your main character into a closed country when it’s essential to the plot? Part of the key is to have some inside knowledge or detailed research or both. Preferably both! In this excerpt from ‘The Shape of Rain’ the protagonist, Jack Conrad, needs to gain... Continue Reading →
For All Mankind
‘What if’ makes a great start to a story By Nick Hirst Apple has entered the TV streaming space with Apple TV aiming to compete against the likes of Netflix and Amazon. Among their initial offerings is the excellent sci-fi drama - ‘For All Mankind’. The title provides a pretty definitive clue as to what... Continue Reading →
The Loudest Voice
Life imitating art - or is it the other way round? By Nick Hirst Russell Crowe stars as Roger Ailes - the man behind Fox News ‘The Loudest Voice’ - shows how real life reflects the events in ‘The Shape of Rain’ narrative. I only got to see this series recently – that’s me, always... Continue Reading →
Leaks and Towers
When you hear about governmental ‘leaks’ on the news, have you ever wondered how they actually happen? Well, I have and I concluded that such transfer of information must take place in some secrecy and must include an element of jeopardy. In ‘The Shape of Rain’, a clandestine meeting between a United Nations weapons inspector... Continue Reading →
Thrown around the sky
Author insight by Nick Hirst. Writing realistic flying sequences for a novel with a link to a free extract from 'The Shape of Rain'. I have always been crazy keen on flying in any form ever since I was a small boy growing up under the flightpath of Heathrow airport in west London. Flying away... Continue Reading →
More than one way to kill a spy
By Nick Hirst. I read that Russian ex-spy Sergei Skripal has been discharged from hospital after recovering from the alleged nerve gas attack on him and his daughter in Salisbury, England. Good news and I have to say, I really didn’t think that he would survive. After all, other such apparent attacks in the UK... Continue Reading →
Shocking death of an innocent
By Nick Hirst. It's a sad fact of life today that deadly explosions perpetrated by an individual or organisations to cause maximum fatalities and carnage are all too common throughout developed societies everywhere. Thankfully, most of us do not experience the horror of a man-made explosion first hand. Taking this as my premise, I used... Continue Reading →
Shooting on location
by Nick Hirst. There's an old, probably apocryphal, story about the person who said they prefer reading books to watching films because "the scenery is better"...or words to that effect. And it's true that the best books will give you a true sense of location, letting you experience real places in your imagination. In a... Continue Reading →