The book’s main character is a man thrown out of his comfort zone, forced to make sense of a new set of truths. Have you ever faced such a dilemma in your own life, and do you think that helped you build the reality of this story?
Fraser: I’m not sure I have ever had a stable comfort zone, certainly not since childhood. I joined the Navy at fifteen and learnt at a very early age just how diverse humankind could be.
I experienced the joy of living in extremely close proximity with people from very different backgrounds to my own. I had to grow up very fast.
After that I spent over twenty-five years wandering the world working for the Oil industry helping to solve logistical problems. I was never faced with the same problem twice. I had good teachers, I learnt from the best how to think fast and on my feet. However I’m not sure I ever had to face a dilemma such as the ones I create for my characters where everything you ever held to be true is suddenly challenged in such a brutal way. The reality I create is based upon an Oil Industry philosophy of ’Failure is never an option.’

This story deals with a lot of parapsychology and police procedural. Do you have first-hand experience in these fields? If not, how did you go about researching these areas?
Fraser: No experience whatsoever, I once thought I’d make an excellent detective because of my love of solving problems. However to be a detective meant joining the police force and I was told I would fail the eye test. Apparently they are too close to the ground. I’m only five foot seven. I live in a small town and the local police officers are used to me wandering in off the streets and asking dumb questions.
I never planned the story to be about the police in particular, I chose to make my main character a policeman because I thought it would help the storyline for him to have access to resources not available to members of the public. Even Private Eyes have got a tame cop in their circle.

Parapsychology has always fascinated me, ever since I read that we can only control about ten percent of our brains abilities. Another twenty percent is given over to the automatic things required like remembering to breathe, heart beats, and things like that. I remember wondering what the other seventy percent was up to most of the time.
What about the subconscious over which we have no control at all? I started to think that there must be some purpose for such an unused capacity and wondered if it was linked in some way to powers we may have lost.
As my name implies, Merlin is a hero of mine. His mystical powers led me to research back further into our past to look more closely at Shaman, Witchdoctors, North American Indian and Aboriginal spirit guides with the power to leave their body to go and search for game for the hunters.
I have read many accounts of ‘Out of Body Experiences’ or as they are some times called ‘Near Death Experiences.’ Since writing the book, or because of it, I have been in contact with many people who have shared their experiences with me. I’ve talked to some of them who told me they couldn’t believe I had no first-hand experience. One woman said as she read the book it made the hairs stand up on the back of her head and brought the memories back. She didn’t seem too happy about it.

Colin Murray is a particularly warped villain, particularly terrifying as not only do we learn of his limitless power, but we can also see why he is the way he is. How did his character come about?
Fraser: In the first draft of a plotline I was going to base the entire story around Out of Body experiences. A good guy and the bad guy. Only the bad guy had all the powers and the good guy could only watch and chase.
As you see Colin didn’t start out bad, circumstances put him where he is and took away his life. He was forced to live entirely in his mind where he developed his powers and then used them to track down and punish the people who paralysed him.
I have thought about retelling the story but in the first person from Colin’s point of view. I may still do that one day.

The book ends with a new beginning. Do you plan to write a sequel / series? What can we look forward to in book two?
Fraser: The clue is on the cover, Inner Space Book One. This was always the plan there are two more to come, same main characters.

Number two is nearly ready to go to the printers It is also called ‘Inner Space,’ with the sub heading ‘The Reluctant Nemesis.’ Within the storyline I explore the world of Regression to past lives. Again taking ordinary people and turning their lives upside down. As you can see I’m not a very nice person. The main plot sees a series of murders with only one common link, question is, is the link a suspect or victim?

Book three, ‘Inner Space,’ ‘The all Seeing Eye’ Is the darkest one of the three. All Nick Burton’s fears and warnings from Book One come to fruition when it seems that a paranormal solution is the only explanation when a series of near perfect murders are committed.
Now it seems that only he and his small team have the power to stop them. The story is finished but now it needs polishing, proof-reading and correcting. Hopefully it should be ready by the end of the year. I use lots of real and existing conspiracy theories involving the Illuminati and the world of Freemasonry, watch out Dan Brown, here I come!

Who are your writing heroes? How have they affected your writing style and narrative choices?
Fraser: Wow! Too tough a question, can I have one on Sport or Pop music instead? Whatever I answer I’m bound to miss someone important.
Again going back to the Navy and Oil Industry I spent a lot of time being bored. Remote locations, lots of hotel rooms, long flights, endless waiting in airports. I read anything and everything I could lay my hands on. I love the great mystery writers, Agatha Christie, Collin Dexter, Ruth Rendall and many more. From them I learnt to steer clear of trying to write ‘Who Dun It’s,’ you can’t beat the masters, at least I couldn’t.
I love Douglas Adams and P.G. Wodehouse for their humour, Jean Auel for her Earth Children series which opened my eyes to the spirit world that pre dates religion. I loved Richard Bach’s Jonathan Livingston Seagull, the power to imagine life in another plan of existence.
I hope I’ve learnt something from all of these great writers but I hope the style of my writing is my own. I’m sure in time someone will tell me if I made it.

Each character has its own motivations, weaknesses and reality. Which character do you feel closest to, and why?
Fraser: I suppose all of my characters are based in part on people I know. Jill, the girl with the impossible green eyes is real, although she isn’t called Jill and she isn’t a scientist. Plus unlike Nick I never found a decent excuse to pursue her.
I suppose I would have to say Nick Burton. First of all he’s nobody’s idea of a super hero, he’s human, down to earth, vulnerable and just like the rest of us he screws up from time to time. But above all he’s honest, decent and tries hard. I would hope that people who know me might say the same things about me. Although I sometimes wonder what I would do if I had Colin Murray’s power………

Is this your first book, or have you always been a writer? What was your first excursion, and what did you learn from it?
Fraser: First one published. I first thought about writing about ten years ago, watching something on TV and thinking what a lot of rubbish it was. I suppose like a lot of people I thought I can do better than that. But of course I couldn’t. I didn’t know the first thing about writing for the screen, still don’t, but I was determined not to let the story I had in my head escape. The story was a magical romantic fantasy involving a young girl growing up in the 1950’s when she discovers Merlin the magician. Needless to say her life and her beliefs are turned upside down, seems to be a theme of mine, and off they go on a series of adventures as her real life develops. The story is called Nelly’s Secret and it’s still sitting here on a memory stick.
What did I learn from it….. You have to have a target audience in mind before embarking on writing a story. Nelly’s Secret fell between two stools….. part of the story might appeal to a female readership….. but the magical bits would put them off. It is a bit like Harry Potter meets the Archers. Or should I say Harriet Potter.
I haven’t given up on Nelly yet. One day I will return to her story and rewrite it but for now I need to concentrate on the adventures of Nick Burton and Inner Space. Who knows it might make a TV series or, dare I hope, a movie…….

Those who have read both Nelly and the Inner Space stories can’t believe they came from the same pen. I’ve never been sure if that was a compliment or not.