Every Tuesday, get to know a bit about the stories behind the books you love, and discover your next favourite novel.

Sabitha: Spies in space—what’s better than a hard science espionage thriller? John Kirk is here to tell us about his book, DEVIN’s WAY: 01: Eternal Spies. John, take it away! 

John: In the near-future, engineer Peter Hubbard’s modest aspirations shelter him high above London’s withering proletariat—why would he ever want to change that?

But fate has other plans. Forced to accept a test mission in low Earth orbit, Peter is drawn into a cold war between competing corporate states—a conflict that transforms his identity forever…

The exciting Devin’s Way trilogy hurls this most reluctant spy from low-Earth orbit, out beyond the Asteroid Belt to a moon of Jupiter, before ending on the barren wastes of Mars.

Sabitha: What inspired you to write this book?

John: Since a young age I have always found the image of a bespectacled person tapping away at a keyboard to be quite alluring. At age 14 I was encouraged to write my first science fiction, and the idea for the DEVIN’s WAY trilogy has been coalescing in my head ever since. This is my first truly serious attempt at getting these books written and ‘out there.’

Sabitha: So space and science fiction were always your passion! How much research did you need to do for your book?

John: Lots! Actually these have been written mostly from memory having absorbed decades’ worth of facts and trivia on the solar system and space and stuff. But occasionally I have to fact-check an item or two, the resources to hand these days are immense! I can visit any part of the cosmos I wish with just a few clicks—we should never take that for granted.

Sabitha: Who did you imagine reading your book as you wrote it? 

John: People just like me—avid ‘hard science fiction’ readers who have grown up fascinated with the exploits of NASA, ESA, ROSCOSMOS etc., and have always imagined how life may be ‘out there’ just around the corner. The DEVIN’s WAY trilogy is set “100+ years from now” as I enjoy extrapolating current tech and trends and placing them into this environment.

Sabitha: What’s your next writing project?

John: The second book in the sequence, Jupiter’s Moon, is already well under way, with the third and final installment, Martian Rising, to follow. I have a dream of combining the DEVIN’s WAY trilogy into one hardback compendium, with a number of short stories filling the gaps in between, since the whole thing spans more than 10 years. Once that is on my bookshelf, I will light that cigar!

Sabitha: Thanks for sharing your story and your process. We’re looking forward to reading! Where can the Night Beats community find you and your book?

John: Here’s my website, and my Amazon Author page.