Short biog and author’s description of Stephen Smith

Timothy London (born Tim Brinkhurst in 1960) is from Essex. He left school at sixteen to play in a band and since then has had a long career as a musician, songwriter, music producer and music manager. And now he writes books.

On the creation of Stephen Smith:

The reasons why people get involved in politics or war have been interrogated over centuries but I believe the biggest reason, that, (for them) it’s fun, is often overlooked. In the Smith series it’s clear that those with power enjoy themselves and that those who hurt other people see the acts of violence and intimidation they indulge in as perks of the job. Our armed forces, our politicians, our police, many are sanctioned criminals, just a PR campaign away from being ‘just’ criminals.

Smith sees this clearly. He even identifies in some ways with these people – he enjoys action, violence. In some ways he resembles a British football hooligan, a member of a ‘firm’ who organise battles with firms belonging to other teams. It’s a reciprocal arrangement. What he doesn’t like is when people ‘not in the game’ get hurt needlessly. And this puts him on the side of the angels, just about.

In 2009, when I first started formulating these stories, I also had another motivation: I wanted an action hero who I could watch and follow without a side helping of patriotism, someone who sits outside the national security services or the police, properly anti-establishment, not of the establishment.

These books are for all the young punks, who grow to be older punks, even as they wash the car on a suburban afternoon, and who need an action hero who doesn’t insult their intelligence with a calm acceptance of the status quo. A bit like Smith.