We chat with debut author Simon Mockler about his latest release The Dark that Doesn’t Sleep, which follows a psychiatrist who is tasked with unravelling a mystery at a top-secret military base.
Hi, Simon! Can you tell our readers a bit about yourself?
Sure, I’m a writer living and working in London. I write for children and adults. I have two kids and a very chilled-out dachshund. If I’m not writing I’m probably painting. Or trying to work out Cure songs on the guitar.
When did you first discover your love for writing and stories?
I can’t remember discovering it. I feel like it’s always been there, a bit like the moon.
Quick lightning round! Tell us the first book you ever remember reading, the one that made you want to become an author, and one that you can’t stop thinking about!
First book I remember reading is Jan Pienkowski’s “The Robot”. It’s a pop-up book. Nothing has ever matched that for pure joy.
Kazuo Ishiguro’s “An Artist of the Floating World” made me want to write. The narrator tells one story, the book tells another.
The book I can’t stop thinking about is Sacred Hunger by Barry Unsworth – mainly because it’s brilliant but pretty much forgotten.
Your debut novel, The Dark that Doesn’t Sleep, is out now! If you could only describe it in five words, what would they be?
Atmospheric, gripping and ultimately hopeful.
What can readers expect?
A tautly plotted Cold War thriller that moves from a secret US military base under the ice in Greenland to the paranoia of 1960s Washington.
Where did the inspiration for The Dark that Doesn’t Sleep come from?
I read an article about Project Iceworm, a US military base built under the ice in Greenland in the 1960s. I couldn’t believe the scale of the ambition, the logistics and engineering required to run the place. And of course I was intrigued by how the soldiers and scientists would have got along in the arctic winter. Three months of darkness. It seemed like the perfect setting.
Were there any moments or characters you really enjoyed writing or exploring?
There’s a character called Chrissie, the fiancée of one soldiers who died at the base. She has a small but vital role and just jumped off the page. I felt her frustration!
What is the key ingredient to writing a mystery?
You only care about what happens because you care who it happens to.
What’s next for you?
I’ve just finished a first draft of a children’s book and I’m looking forward to getting stuck into another thriller. I’m thinking 1960s Paris as the setting.
Lastly, do you have any book recommendations for our readers?
I love Mick Herron’s Slough House series and I’ve just finished the latest one, “Bad Actors”. Most of the spies are so incompetent they can barely tie their own shoelaces. It’s closer to Wodehouse than Le Carré. I also love a good essay, and have a pile of books by Julian Barnes, Clive James and MFK Fisher beside the bed.
