By Jonty Ralphsmith
A Hallam-based author has had two books published with UK-based publisher, Olympia and says many more are on the way.
Gavin Catt is a sci-fi buff with a love of storytelling, harnessing his creative spark to work on a series of novels.
In January 2020, Gavin planned his year so he could dedicate lots of time to his writing – The lockdowns resulted in Gavin being asked to take leave from his role as a clerical officer, giving him more time to write the book, therefore speeding up the process of publishing.
Focussing on concepts of peace, escapism and humankind, Gavin’s books log the adventures of the characters on an inter-galactic adventure, inspired by an episode of Star Trek.
The stories, which are handwritten twice before he types and submits them to sift out errors, are available on sale on Amazon and Kindle, at Walmart in USA and more.
It took until the book was sent to the sixth publisher for it to finally be accepted, but Gavin was unfazed and knows it can take up to five years before prospective readers catch wind of its availability so is remaining patient and ambitious.
Gavin, now middle-aged, enjoyed writing short stories during his youth and has spent time on community radio, piecing together essays and writing songs in the intervening years.
Through his stories, Gavin hopes to express humankind’s need to evolve.
While it is set 400 years in to the future and outside the Milky Way, he has retained references to everyday life as people in 2022 so that it remains relatable for his readers.
“I want to show that irrespective of political orientation or personal characteristics, people are just people, he said.
“It doesn’t matter who or what you are and, if you don’t treat other people with respect, what hope is there.
Humans’ war-like nature has helped us to evolve but we need to evolve past that and make a physical conscious effort to evolve.
The advent of the pandemic influenced the narrative, as seeing Melbourne “look like a country town on a Sunday afternoon” helped Gavin visualise what an alternate reality in another galaxy could look like.
