Page 19 - Reader's House Magazine Issue 49

A bold, sensual journey of love, empowerment, and adventure. “My Manager” captivates with its raw honesty, exploring passion, equality, and devotion in a modern, liberating relationship. Truly unforgettable.
Byron George captivates readers with his authentic storytelling, blending personal adventures and spirituality into diverse, thrilling, and rebellious narratives.
guide for the character’s pasts to point to their future actions. The theories of communicating with nature to send messages along those lines grew into more powerful meditations with out of body experiences. Those practices then grew into an advantage using birds and insects for assistance when in dangerous situations.
I used my own life experiences in the first book to get the main character, Barry Parker, to where I needed him for the rest of the plot. I had similar business issues involving a large bank, so I used that storyline as a form of revenge.
I always try to make situations believable, as if they could happen to ordinary people. As a Brit, I tend to avoid guns where possible unless their use fits the char- acter. Later in the series the personal choice of weapons becomes more obvious. The whole team must choose a martial art or other weapon as part of their training.
I based most of the characters on people I knew that way I can hear their voices when I write dialogue.
The only character I created from my head was Lin Fu, who I then went on a search to find someone to fit her character, so that I could then envision her when writing.
The use of Taoist principles and spiritual practices in New Blood, New Targets adds
a unique layer to the story. How do these elements of spirituality and mysticism influence the characters and the narrative?
reflect your own views on society?
The rebellious spirit has always been around in charac- ters from Robin Hood, even on tv with the likes of the A Team, and The Equaliser.
Those themes are that justice is not always served up by the laws, which are often written to favour or not upset the establishment, and those characters go along with my own attempt to level that playing field.
I come from a background of “Laws are made to be broken” and bad laws even more so.
Like I said in the last answer which I temper slightly here, “People are mostly great, but governments are often shit.”
As a musician who has played the blues harp
in bands across Asia, how does your musical background influence your writing? Do you find parallels between composing music and crafting a story?
I loved the old Bluesmen and women, mostly those poor blacks from the southern states from my teens, and from them a love of The Rolling Stones who were always considered anti-establishment and a rebellious outfit. I wouldn’t really call myself a musician, but I did play with soul, so in that respect the emotions are the same as some of my storylines. Certainly, in the more romantic stories.
I’ve tried songwriting a few times but favour my poetry.
You mention writing from the soul and being an Arhatic Yogi and Pranic Healer. How do these spiritual practices inform your creative process, and do they play a role in the development of your characters and plotlines?
Those teachings certainly played a part in Face and Honour, in Barry’s healing from a voodoo enchantment. In Face, Fire & Morality? with the Shaman and their travel through the old burial caves in the mountains of the Philippines. In New Blood, New Targets for their gradual induction and training of the younger characters Matthew and Wia Wia.
Again, many personal experiences with real people and those practices I witnessed, so it was easy to weave them into the stories.
I try to blend the action so that it is believable, rather than supernatural. I meditated daily for over 6 years and met a few people who were clairvoyant or had certain mystic skills and did a lot of research on Ley Lines as a
You’ve lived and worked in various countries, which are reflected in the settings of
your novels. How does your global experience shape the authenticity of your stories, and do you have a favorite location that has particularly inspired your writing?
My global experience has made me into the person I am today. Those experiences broaden my whole outlook on life. The stories just follow how the characters react in those places, and by extension probably how I immersed when there.
It is difficult to have a particular favourite without maybe offending those missing, but I loved most of Southeast Asia, the food, the cultural differences, the people, always the people. I have a favourite saying, “People are great, but governments are shit.”
I did my spiritual training under a Chinese Master in the Philippines and although I went to a few places, would love to explore more. That is where the Dream Team gradually come back to for a violent finale in the 5th book that I will be releasing soon, titled “New Bloody Wars.”
The Dream Team is known for its anti- establishment and unconventional approach to justice. What do you hope readers take away from this rebellious spirit, and how does it
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