Kildare author pens new Viking novel
Peter Kildare's Viking author
WHEN last we spoke with Peter Gibbons (46) – Calverstown’s king of Viking literature – a little over 18 months ago, he had just won his liberating €20,000 award with his fourth book from the saga, which freed him from the rat race and allowed him write fulltime.
Well, he wasn’t messing when he said “write full-time”, because in the interim year and a half Peter has published his 9th book in this saga last month – with a 10th expected by Christmas!
Oh, and in his spare time, on top of soccer coaching at Moone, he has also knocked out three detective novels about a Kildare-based gumshoe. For the craic!
“Well, I get up early, and distribute the word count (amongst the novels he is working on), and I try for 4,000 a day,” he modestly explained when asked how is output is so prolific.
To put his output into context, with the average word count of a fantasy novel in the ballpark of 120,000, his daily tappity-tap equates to a book a month!
“Well, I then have to edit, and I have a team of proofreaders and editors, and then cover designers, but it helps if what you do you love it,” said Peter.
Originally from Warrington, he married Tallaght lass Fiona, a HR exec, and they moved to Calverstown eight years ago to raise their three children.
“Fiona used to do HR in a creche in Naas, but left to do my marketing and multi-media,” said Peter.
He had worked in insurance in Parkwest until he won the £20,000 Kindle Storyteller Award for “exceptional writing from independent authors who publish in any genre” in October 2022, and is eternally grateful for this opportunity.
“We were able to build an office in the back garden with the winnings to allow me to write full-time,” he said.
The asked him about his ninth title, e-published on Kindle last month, and he simply described it as: “A chunk of it is set in Scandinavia, and a chunk of it is set in Ireland”.
He added: “There’s loads of Viking stuff in Dublin, Wicklow, Wexford, there’s even a plaque on the bridge in Kilcullen marking how far up the Liffey they got."
And what of his new detective?
“Yeah, I’ve written three Jack Kane novels under a pseudonym,” he said.
“He’s set in and around Kildare, the last one about a stud farm and their daughter is kidnapped, there’s motorcycle chases, gunfire, and I don’t have to go far for research!” he laughed.
Incredibly, Peter actually does have some free time.
“I like to keep my evenings free,” he said.
“I coach soccer in Moone, my son plays gaelic football and hurling, and my daughter soccer, and I like being involved,” he said.
Meanwhile, on the day job, he said: “I want to release three books a year, that’s my personal choice."
He added: “That’s the beauty of self-publishing, you can release as many as you want, but when you have a family to support you want to keep royalties to a maximum."
“I don’t have to worry about bookstores, it’s all done digitally and you get far more royalties there than from traditional publishing – probably 75 per cent on eBooks, compared to 15-25 per cent traditionally,” he revealed.
“And a lot of that (traditional royalties) is staggered, and based on store returns,” he said.
“E-books are really my bread and butter.
“And writing about Vikings is an awful lot better than sitting in an office and talking about insurance with colleagues, it’s not exactly inspiring stuff.
“I’m going to keep writing, keep growing.
“The Viking Blood series might come to an end eventually, but I will continue to set my books in Scandinavia and the UK.
“Instead of having to drive into Dublin and all that crap, I have freedom,” he declared.
“By keeping out of the system I should have my 10th out by Christmas, set in the Isle of Man, and Wexford and Waterford,” he said.
Knowing I was Zooming him from a mobile home in Rosslare, I queried if he was on a research mission.
“No," he said. “We’re down for the Fleadh.”
“We have a summer mobile down here where we can come and look out at the rain and dream of going to the beach,” he smiled.
“This weather is great for writing, but bad for holidays!”
Well, all work and no play … but honourably deserved, methinks.
