Like many writers, my journey to creating the Real Hero series began as a reader. From my late teens, I immersed myself in the worlds of science fiction and fantasy, before life and work pulled me in different directions. Years later, comics and graphic novels reignited my passion for storytelling, particularly through Batman – a hero who captured my imagination so completely that I ended up running a popular Batman comics website.
My professional life in IT has always had a way of weaving itself into my hobbies. When I rediscovered reading through Kindle, I found myself drawn to a diverse range of genres. George MacDonald Fraser’s Flashman series showed me how historical fiction could be both entertaining and irreverent. Crime fiction authors like Simon Kernick, Tim Weaver, and Jeffrey Deaver taught me the art of tension and intricate plotting.
But there was always another story brewing in my mind – one that asked a simple question: What would a real superhero look like in our world?
This question gave birth to Dave, the protagonist of the Real Hero series. I wanted to create a character who possessed extraordinary abilities – superhuman strength, speed, and invulnerability – but faced very real-world challenges. Because when you strip away the comic book conventions, having such powers raises fascinating questions: What does it truly mean to be one of a kind? How do you choose between becoming a hero or villain? Or perhaps most importantly, how do you simply choose to help?
In our world of competing crises, where do you even begin? This led me to pit Dave against the very real catastrophes we face today: corporate greed, ecological disasters, geopolitical tensions, and criminal enterprises that hide in plain sight. I wanted to combine the high-octane action of authors like Chris Ryan with a splash of superhuman ability – not to make the challenges easier, but to explore them from a unique perspective.
Dave’s story isn’t about a cape-wearing superhero saving the world. It’s about someone with extraordinary abilities trying to navigate our complex world, making difficult choices, and ultimately deciding that helping others is the only real choice. Through him, I wanted to explore what heroism really means in a world where the threats aren’t always as clear as supervillains in comic costumes, but are instead hidden in boardrooms, encrypted files, and international waters.
The Real Hero series is my attempt to bridge the gap between the superhero stories I love and the real-world thrillers that keep us on the edge of our seats. It’s about bringing those dreams and “what-if” scenarios to life, grounding them in reality, and asking: What would a real hero do?