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TV Appearances, Interviews and Reviews
These are two seperate interviews conducted on Spanish television over the past two years.Customer Reviews .......
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NORTH
SLOPE
Dee Longenbaugh, Juneau, Alaska...
Described in the Financial Times as a "Gifted Narrator", Michael Parker takes his readers into the ice cold world of the Arctic where a ruthless killer stalks the oil camp of financially crippled oil Company, Fyffe Oil. In a chilling race against time, the only outfit left drilling in the icy desert wastes of the North Slope struggle to overcome tempestuous storms, fire and murder. The chief driller, McKinnon, dragged from the desperate world of alchohol, is the only man with the will to overcome these odds. In a challenging, well researched story, Michael Parker leaves the reader breathless and chilled with the race to strike oil at an almost unattainable depth, where the world's leading oil Companies have failed. The technical background to this novel is based on true events and leaves the reader in no doubt that man's toughest challenges are always in the most extreme places.
Amazon Review Feb 2011 ...The author decided he needed to write a novel about Alaska's North Slope. Although your reviewer hasn't
A
COVERT WAR
The Chapter is brought to book ....
12 April 2010
Nik Morten, Author/Editor and Illustrator ...
An up-to-date fast-paced thriller from the reliable pen of Michael
Parker, A Covert War starts with the words of David Ellis, relating his
firsthand experience of a massacre in Afghanistan. These words were
written in a notebook now in the possession of his sister, Susan. The
mysterious Sir Giles Cavendish gave her the book as possible proof that
her brother was alive, though missing.
So begins Susan's quest to find her brother. She recruits a private
investigator, Marcus Blake. Apparently, David was a journalist and worked
for the organisation called The Chapter; they ran a mission in the Afghan
mountains. Yet there's more to The Chapter than this - much more... And
Cavendish is more than he seems.
Marcus has a friend from university days - Maggot, from northern Pakistan
- and they train in martial arts together. This training proves useful as
Marcus begins to uncover odd connections that lead him to a US base in the
UK and high echelon contacts in the government.
As the danger mounts, it seems that the only way they'll be able to free
David is to travel to one of the most dangerous spots on earth,
Afghanistan. Here, David is being used as a pawn and bargaining chip, with
his very life as the stake. And while some villains are American
servicemen and rogue CIA operatives, others are hidden, awaiting their
moment of betrayal.
There is a strong sense of foreboding as the pages turn, leading on to an
inevitable and bloody confrontation. The tension mounts as friend and foe
seek to silence their enemies. A satisfying quick read.
This is not the first Parker thriller I've read and, based on this outing, it won't be the last.
THE
THIRD SERCET 
Entertaining with a number of twists..., S.Duffbert - Amazon Reviewer....
I received a pretty good recreational read the other day in the mail... The Third Secret by Michael Parker. It had a bit of everything... intrigue, conspiracy, buried treasure, and a number of people all after a single item, but most all for different reasons.There are two driving forces in the story. One is the third secret of Fatima from the Catholic Church. During World War II, it was thought that perhaps the German soldiers might overrun the Vatican and loot a number of treasures. A priest, acting on his own, decided to take the unrevealed third secret document, substitute a fake document, and send the real document out of country for safekeeping. The other force is a shipment of Vatican gold being sent out for the same reason. It just so happens that the document is also with the gold. While the Italians are transporting the gold shipment, it's attacked by an Allied patrol in the middle of the desert. They decide to hide the shipment in an unmarked cave until they can figure out how to divvy up the spoils. Of course, human greed takes over, a gun fight ensues, and only one(?) person is left alive that knows about the hiding spot. The rest of the story revolves around his plans to head back, recover the gold for himself, and potentially figure out exactly what that strange piece of paper was that was also with the gold. The main problem is that he's not the only one who gets wind of the recovery, and there are some very powerful people who are willing to do just about anything to make sure they are the winners in the search.
I've grown a bit tired of the Catholic conspiracy genre, as it's been done over and over. But in this case, the story line didn't seem to go overboard on the topic. There were enough competing interests so that the story stayed fresh. And even when I thought most everything was settled and I knew who was on what side, I found out I didn't. The Third Secret was an entertaining novel, and one that I'm glad I had the chance to read.
THE
DEVIL’S TRINITY
The CoastRider Review 2009 Sean McSeveney ...
Local author Michael Parker has just had his latest book The Devil’s Trinity, published by Independent publishers Robert Hale of London. The book is Michael’s fourth since he had his first book North Slope, published in 1980. He has had two books published in the last year.
In an interview with the CoastRider, Michael gives us an insight to what it takes to become a successful author. Michael was born in 1941 and grew up in wartime Britain. As a young man he joined the Merchant navy and spent almost two years serving on ships travelling around the world. It was during this time that he met his wife Patricia. Trying to hold down a job that involved extended periods away from Patricia was never going to work, so he left the Merchant Navy and had several jobs before realising that he needed to get himself a trade.
He Joined the Royal Air Force and became an electrician working on ground installations.
After spending 15 years in the RAF he left as a Chief Technician, to go and work for several food processing companies including Ross food and Mars foods as a maintenance electrician. After taking early retirement 11 years ago he moved to Spain and now lives near Algorfa.
Michael takes the story from here. “I had always been interested in writing; at school writing essays in English was without a doubt my favourite lesson. As I got older I started writing ever-longer stories. When I was 25 I wrote my first book and sent it away to several publishing houses. Most never replied and the ones that did, sent letters of rejection. Initially I was bitterly disappointed that every time I wrote a new book it was rejected by the publishers. But everyone that read my books always said that they were worthy of being in print. It was this knowledge that made me persevere.”
Michael’s perseverance eventually paid off when years later in 1980 and aged 39 he had his first book North Slope published by McMillan. Michael continues his story, “I was delighted, I thought I had finally hit the big time with a major publishing company. To gain a contract I needed to provide the publishers with my next manuscript, Hell’s Gate. To my despair they rejected the manuscript and I was back to square one. I continued writing books and it took me a further four years before my next book Shadow of the Wolf was put into print. Looking back I now realise that because I thought I had made it the publishers would accept anything that I wrote. I re-read Hell’s Gate and understood why it was rejected, it simply wasn’t good enough. After trying again for years I decided to re-write Hell’s Gate. This time in 2007 Robert Hale accepted it; this was after a period of 13 years since my last book.”
Since the publishing of Hell’s Gate last year, the flood gates seem to have opened for Michael.
He has now had an additional two books published: The Eagles Covenant and his latest The Devil’s Trinity. He has also completed work on another manuscript and is waiting for the word back from Robert Hale.
I asked Michael which other writers inspired him. He replied, “My first inspiration was Mickey Spillane, he was the first author to sell more books than the Bible, but I also took inspiration from Dennis Wheatley and Wilbur Smith”. Michael says, “My first book was likened to a Wilbur Smith novel and perhaps I should have stuck with a single character and style to start off with. But that is not my way. I like to set each book in a different time period and have different types of characters. My latest book The Devil’s Trinity is more like a horrifying James Bond novel.”
“What gives you inspirations and ideas for your books and characters?’ Was my next question to Michael?” He replied, “Sometimes I sit and think about a storyline for ages, and at others an idea can just pop into my head, or I will be doing something that triggers a direction for the story. The characters start to get hold of you and it is them that model the story as it progresses. I have often been accused of killing of main characters when I shouldn’t have, but I feel I have a moral duty to make sure that they pay for their crimes.”
On average it takes Michael a year to write a book, most of which average around 85,000 words. Even as a journalist I baulk at the magnitude of such a task. I asked Michael if he had any advice for other budding writers? “Be prepared for rejection and criticism.” He replied then continued. “Be prepared to sit and write, I know it sounds strange, but you end up making lots of excuses to put off sitting down and starting the next chapter. It is also a good idea to get hold of a recent copy of Writers and Artists year book.
It contains the contact details of almost all the publishers and literary agents, and the type of writing they are looking for.”
Michael has given me a copy of his latest novel to review. I will publish my review once I have completed reading the book. All I can say at this stage is that what I have read so far has been extremely good. If you would like a copy of any of Michael’s books then you can find them on any good online book store such as Amazon and the book depository. You can also order copies from Book World España.
