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One of the golden rules I have heard bandied about is that you should write what you like to read. I like to read thrillers which is why I write primarily in that genre. When I started writing I was living in Kyiv, Ukraine, and as I didn’t have a television I’d become an avid reader – thrillers generally. It struck me that no one was writing about Ukraine; they kept using Moscow as a location for anything remotely ‘Soviet’. I suddenly thought to myself, ‘these authors are experts on spies, but I’m an expert on Ukraine.’ So I decided I’d write about spies in Ukraine. Thus my character of former SAS trooper turned MI6 operative, Aidan Snow, was created. My first novel ‘Hetman’ (now republished as COLD BLOOD) took me twelve years to write, on and off, but once I’d finished it I’d proved to myself that I could write another. So I did. Whilst writing my second book I spent a year trying to get a traditional publishing deal and had some good feedback before I discovered self-publishing. Five years later, after self-publishing several more thrillers, getting good sales and in essence learning how to write, I tried again. I approached five publishers and two made me offers. My Aidan Snow novels are now commercially published by Endeavour Press. More recently Amazon Publishing has contracted me to write for their Kindle Worlds franchise. Since getting signed by Endeavour I’ve become a member of the ITW (International Thriller Writers organisation) and the CWA (the Crime Writers Association) and have met many of my favourite authors including Stephen Leather and Lee Child. In my six years of being a full time author that isn’t bad going. My most recent book, COLD SHADOW, is a novel for Amazon’s Jet Kindle worlds. It unites my own hero Aidan Snow with Jet from New York Times Bestselling author Russell Blake’s ‘JET’ series. You can get a copy here: http://amzn.com/B015NKUTXO
About Alex Shaw:
ALEX SHAW spent the second half of the 1990s in Kyiv, Ukraine, teaching Drama and running his own business consultancy before being head-hunted for a division of Siemens. The next few years saw him doing business for the company across the former USSR, the Middle East, and Africa.
Alex is an active member of the ITW (The International Thriller Writers organisation) and the CWA (the Crime Writers Association). He is the author of the #1 International Kindle Bestselling ‘Aidan Snow SAS thrillers’ COLD BLOOD, COLD BLACK, COLD EAST and the new DELTA FORCE VAMPIRE series of books. His writing has also been published in the thriller anthologies DEATH TOLL, DEATH TOLL 2 and ACTION PULSE POUNDING TALES 2 alongside International Bestselling authors Stephen Leather and Matt Hilton.
Alex, his wife and their two sons divide their time between homes in Kyiv, Ukraine and Worthing, England.
Alex Shaw’s Books:
JET: COLD SHADOW (Kindle Worlds)
http://www.amazon.com/JET-COLD-SHADOW-Kindle-Worlds-ebook/dp/B015NKUTXO/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8
Cold Black
http://www.amazon.com/Cold-Black-Alex-Shaw-ebook/dp/B014LCWVWW/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8
Italian Edition: http://www.amazon.com/Cold-Black-Loro-nero-Italian-ebook/dp/B0128IS1WK/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8
Delta Force Vampire: Insurgency
Italian Edition: http://www.amazon.com/Delta-Force-Vampire-Insurrezione-Italian-ebook/dp/B00M26C7GK/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8
Portuguese Edition: http://www.amazon.com/AVENTURAS-ADOLESCENTE-VIAJANTE-TEMPO-Portuguese-ebook/dp/B00KMW7V5S/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8
The Perseid Collapse Series: BLACKLINE (Kindle Worlds Novella)
Blood Bath (Seven Jack Nightingale Short Stories)
(Jack Nightingale short story)
http://www.amazon.com/Blood-Seven-Nightingale-Short-Stories-ebook/dp/B00JYHM36Y/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8
Cold East
http://www.amazon.com/Cold-East-Alex-Shaw-ebook/dp/B00W87QTG2/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8
Death Toll 2: Hard Targets
http://www.amazon.com/Death-Toll-2-Hard-Targets-ebook/dp/B00GCWMNZA/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8
Hetman: In a Firefight Pray for Snow
http://www.amazon.com/Hetman-Alex-Shaw/dp/1442184590/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8
Cold Blood
http://www.amazon.com/Cold-Blood-Alex-Shaw-ebook/dp/B00PT1EFDI/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8
Hetman: Donetsk Calling – An Aidan Snow short story
http://www.amazon.com/Hetman-Donetsk-Calling-Aidan-short-ebook/dp/B008YYZT9G/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8
Death Toll
http://www.amazon.com/Death-Toll-Stephen-Leather-ebook/dp/B00CIZ4XYO/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8
Kyiv Rules – A Director Dudka Short Crime Thriller
http://www.amazon.com/Kyiv-Rules-Director-Dudka-Thriller-ebook/dp/B00GFSR4DW/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8
Hetman: Hard Kill – An Aidan Snow ‘SAS’ short story
http://www.amazon.com/Hetman-Hard-Aidan-short-story-ebook/dp/B00DSE91UK/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8
Action: Pulse Pounding Tales Volume 2
http://www.amazon.com/Action-Pulse-Pounding-Tales-2-ebook/dp/B00D7L66NE/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8
The Adventures of a Teenage Time Traveller
http://www.amazon.com/Adventures-Teenage-Time-Traveller-ebook/dp/B0038VZHRY/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8
French Edition: http://www.amazon.com/Aventures-Adolescent-Voyageant-Temps-French-ebook/dp/B00N1782EU/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8
Spanish Edition: http://www.amazon.com/Aventuras-Viajero-Tiempo-Adolescente-Spanish-ebook/dp/B00R8OU9IO/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8
Alex Shaw’s Links to Social Media:
Twitter: @alexshawhetman
Facebook Author Page: https://www.facebook.com/Alex-Shaw-383476491724127/timeline/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/alex.shaw.982292
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