About...

Hiya....

I was told it would be best to have a website if and when I completed writing a book. I did. So here we are. This website is dedicated to Tracey. Let me explain. "Up until September 3rd 2021 all was okay. Then it wasn't".

Tracey was diagnosed with Stage 4 cancer. Her life expectancy was three-months. She made it eight-months before having to leave in May 2022.

Tracey was my world. A world that all seems somewhat cloudy nowadays. The skies are brightening a little as the seasons blend. I'm not too sure which way I'm heading or where the destination is. Writing my first novel is part of that journey.

I'm not a writer / author. I'm a carpenter who has wrote a book. Can I become an author? Why not. I guess we can be anything we want in the limited time we have here.

Bonkas wasn’t planned. I started to write it whilst sat on a veranda in Illinois, USA and I finished writing it sat at my kitchen table in Wales, UK.

Bonkas grew from complicated grief, from anger at an unregulated UK funeral industry, from a need to process what happened after Tracey passed. But somewhere along the way, during a year of writing and rewriting, it became something more.

Bonkas explores mental health, institutional care, and the fluid nature of truth through the eyes of Patrick Brady. His journey through Treetops, a supported housing scheme, reveals how perception shapes reality and how easily our grip on truth can slip.

I wanted to write about difficult things - grief, prejudice, justice, revenge - but in a way that felt honest rather than sensational. The novel tackles challenging subjects while trying to maintain dignity and find moments of genuine humour in dark places.

The residents and staff of Treetops each bring their own complexities. Charles battles addiction while seeking redemption, Abby carries the weight of stolen dreams, Lacey fights for safety and self-worth. Through Trisha, the novel explores prejudice and acceptance, showing how initial perceptions can evolve through understanding and time.

What emerged was a story that I hope offers two distinct reading experiences. First time through, you follow Patrick's narrative. Second time, you find yourself reading an entirely different book.

The year spent writing Bonkas taught me how complex people can be, how good and bad coexist, how redemption and revenge sometimes walk hand in hand. Through Patrick's fractured perspective, we see how grief can distort reality, how justice and vengeance blur, how truth itself becomes fluid when viewed through damaged eyes.

The novel gently invites readers to examine their own perceptions and prejudices. Through characters like Trisha, and the varying responses she encounters, we see how initial judgments can evolve through understanding and shared experience. The story doesn't preach or condemn - instead, it shows how people might grow when given time and space to learn. Some characters make this journey of understanding, others don't, much like real life.

I hope readers might recognise aspects of their own thought processes in these transitions - those small moments where we catch ourselves, where we learn, where we grow. The novel tries to handle these delicate subjects with care and nuance, acknowledging that change often comes gradually, through everyday interactions rather than dramatic revelations.

I hope readers find something worthwhile in these pages. Something that makes them think, makes them question, makes them see things differently on that second read. The novel doesn't shy away from darkness, but it tries to balance this with humanity, hope, and yes, even humour.

Perhaps it's not an easy book for some? But then, the best journeys rarely are.