Author Q&A with Jon Hartless

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Jon Hartless was born in the 1970s and has spent much of his life in the Midlands and Worcestershire, UK. His latest novels, steampunk motor racing adventures examining the gulf between the powerful and the dispossessed, started with Full Throttle in August 2017 and continued with Rise of the Petrol Queen in 2019, with both being republished in new formats in 2020. Book 3, Fall of the Petrol Queen, is schedule for release in early October 2020.

1. Tells us about your writing/ published book(s)

My first few comedy sci-fi novels were accepted at Double Dragon Ebooks almost 20 years ago, and then I had several submissions accepted at both Extasy Books and their sister site, Devine Destinies, (under pen names, though, so you won’t see my real name there).

Unfortunately, both Extasy and Devine prefer shorter works of fiction, so when the idea for the Poppy Orpington Steampunk series popped into my head, I knew it would be too long for Devine. I also knew I couldn’t cut the manuscript down into smaller chunks as it just didn’t flow that way.

I therefore had to start the submission process all over again and, after about 100 rejections I finally got accepted with a traditional publisher, Accent Press. Which then sold out to another publisher which wasn’t interested in continuing the series, hence it’s now over at Amazon:

2. Tell me about your main character

Poppy Orpington is an Amazonian redhead; highly intelligent, well read, seething in anger at the injustices of the world. She is strong, brave, loyal, but also quite bad-tempered and very sarcastic at times…

Poppy is a young woman, (possibly a teenager; she’s always a bit vague about her age and has many forged birth certificates in her possession, so she can compete on different race tracks), who is born in a poor, working class area. She has two birth defects in that she has a missing right arm and a weak left knee; this being a Steampunk book, fully integrated prosthetics exist, but Poppy’s family can’t afford such a luxury item.

Poppy seems destined for a life of poverty, but it transpires her father, an engineer, has been working on a secret project for years; to create a petrol engine for use in everyday cars, in order to replace the standard (and inadequate) steam turbine model. Having perfected the engine, he intends to go racing for the publicity this will bring his new design… But will a working-class family be allowed near the snobby world of motor sport? And what happens when Poppy’s father falls ill with mental health issues?

3. Tell us about a scene that you loved but had to edit out of your book

The book had several false starts, but one of them was salvaged and turned into a short story. It features Poppy being challenged by a patronizing, sexist, snobby journalist who cannot believe any woman can beat him in a road race. Not only does Poppy prove him wrong, but the journalist also gets his comeuppance, courtesy of a tight turn and a hidden pond… The story can be read in the Harvey Duckman anthology series, volume 2.

4. Do you do research for your books? If so, what kind of research?

For this series I did. Motor racing was immensely popular in the 1920s, (which also saw the debut of the Le Mans 24-hour endurance run), though the main emphasis of the books has been on the privileged world of the motor racer.

The “Bentley Boys” were a real group of playboy racers who had a reputation for racing all day and partying all night. I got hold of every book I could find on them, and the sport in general during that time, which enabled me to draw on several racing scenes for use in the Poppy series.

But more importantly, I also saw how the 1920s worked in terms of the social side of things, with the poor being despised by the rich, and the working classes being told to accept what they had, to be deferential, and to never ask for anything more. Much like today, in fact, in which the rich get everything and the poor get nothing.

5. Tell me about your current work

Book 3 of the series, Fall of the Petrol Queen, scheduled for release in October, was inspired by the early years of the Le Mans 24-hour endurance, and sees Poppy attending with her own car company, Thunderbolt Motors. The backdrop, however, is rising fascism, as war is approaching with Kaiser Wilhelm VI’s Unified Germany. And book 4 will follow on directly as Poppy is recruited into the CTS, (Covert Tactical Section), inspired by the real-life SOE, (Special Operations Executive), to fight against the German army in occupied France.

6. Would you want your book made into a film?

It would be difficult to do a “straight” adaption as the series is written as though a historian is looking back at events that occurred well over a hundred years ago, with footnotes to explain what is going on to the modern reader. That framing device would be very difficult to do in a film, so it would probably have to be jettisoned. Which would be a shame.

Plus, are there any angry 6’2” redheads out there who could play Poppy?

You can find Jon Hartless on Twitter.

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Author Q&A with Jon Hartless