Interview with Nick Hirst

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

Exposed: How to buy a gun illegally in Saudi Arabia – an extract from ‘The Shape of Rain’

‘Do not offend me by trying to guess what I can or cannot supply. What is it you require?’ ‘I need a handgun and a small amount of ammunition.’ Rodney A Stewart blinked away the tiredness as he gazed at the vast arrivals board in the international terminal at Riyadh’s King Khalid International Airport. He...

Burned: Escape at the Crematorium – an extract from “The Shape of Rain”

“…both exits are blocked by men intent on killing you. The only other way out has just been taken by the coffin – what do you do?” Conrad stood behind the lectern and retrieved his notes from his jacket pocket. As he placed them in front of him, he noticed his hands were shaking slightly...

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...

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...

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...