Olympus or Oblivion tells the story of fictional sexual encounters with fifteen different Hollywood icons. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?

Like most people, I have favourite movie stars. One actor in particular, Clancy Brown, has lived rent-free in my head for forty years. I realised one day that my limerence for him (although compelling and chemically indistinguishable from love) was essentially the adoration of a stranger. He will never know who I am.

That led me to think more deeply about the one-sided relationships we build with these people. Why do we place them on pedestals? Do they really deserve a status approaching demigods?

I wanted to place them into ridiculously implausible but very human situations – not to expose them, but to expose us. And, if I’m honest, writing about me getting jiggy with a selection of A-list movie stars was also a gloriously stupid comedic premise and an escape from the mundane.

I wanted readers to laugh, wince, and occasionally stop and think. It would be disingenuous to ignore that there’s erotica in there as well, which may… entertain. Ultimately, it had to feel like the inside of my own head splattered onto the keyboard. The icons get an affectionate roasting by me and my judgmental, sentient house fern, Della. I take their godhood, and their clothes, stripping them down to what matters – their character.

Get your minds out of the gutter. That’s my territory.

We live in a world that moves quickly and often skims the surface of what’s real and meaningful underneath. We celebrate fame as though it were the highest achievement, while quietly overlooking those who make a tangible difference – surgeons, scientists, people who change lives in ways that don’t trend on social media.

What do you find to be the most challenging aspect of writing satire? The most rewarding?

To have a broad appeal yet remain 100% true to myself. That’s it. I’ve no intellectual answer to that. I am largely unfiltered, so my challenges are few.

But that’s also the reward. The inside of my head is a delicious, chaotic, entertaining mess. Readers should relax and enjoy the ride. Lean into the cringe and try not to snigger on the train.

The power of my comedy lies in discomfort; the horror of the cringe, sharp snarking, and weaponised sarcasm. I don’t have much interest in formula or convention. Creative writing, to me, should actually feel creative. Writing courses, degrees, process…nah. Not for me. Watch as I open my flip-top head and let the crazy out for a walk.

If it ever ends up in a library, I quite like the idea of someone having a mild crisis about which shelf it belongs on.

What were some themes that were important for you to explore in this book?

That fame does not equal legacy.

Striving to be known is deeply human – we all like to think we’ll be remembered. But fame without substance collapses under its own weight. Legacy, on the other hand, is built quietly, through actions and impact, whether people are watching or not.

The people who leave the deepest mark are often not the ones chasing recognition, but the ones who earn it without asking.

Can we look forward to seeing more work from you soon? What are you currently working on?

You surely will.

I’m currently working on another comedy – Olympus or Urbana. It’s a sequel, of sorts. Kind of. It’s a mythological whodunnit with romantic elements, swearing, and multiple story arcs, set across Olympus and its surrounding realms.

There are two co-protagonists, Vox and Hera Minor, both mortals, tasked by Zeus with solving a mystery – helped and hindered in equal measure by a cast of interfering gods. It features riddles, Latin dialogue (with translation), exotic creatures, strange places, and more than a few familiar faces in unexpected roles.

There’s a realm built entirely for hedonism, a god desperate for more adoration than he currently receives, arguments about shades of green, endless feasting, lizard-wrestling, swearing lessons, and Henry Cavill boring everyone to death as Olympus shakes to the collective roar of, “Shut up, Cavill!”

Now, if you don’t mind, I’m off to take my imagination for a long walk along the banks of the Acheron.

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