Please introduce yourself, who are you and what do you do?
I was born and grew up in Denmark, where I wrote (in Danish) since I was five. In my late teens, I hammered out a humorous, unpublished detective novel on a Hermes typewriter from the thirties. I had a break from writing, during which I got married, had children and moved to England. As the children grew older, the writing bug returned. I started writing evenings while holding down a fairly demanding but interesting nine to five job as a geologist in the oil industry. About ten years ago, I went part-time to have more time to write.
What first inspired you to start writing?
I was a freak pretty much from the word go. I could write before I could read for a start. My mother read my first couple of stories back to me, as I couldn’t read them myself. Where it all came from, I have no idea, as there aren’t any writers anywhere in the family. A composer and an opera singer, that’s about it for the arts. I believe it’s a blessing someone gave my mother while I was still in the womb, or a curse, depending what kind of period I’m in writing-wise. In short, nothing inspired me. As far back as I can remember, it was something I had to do. And still is.
Where did the idea for 15,000 Feet Below come from?
I don’t know if any of you recall the pandemonium and hoarding caused by the fuel truckers strike in 2007, and it only lasted a few days. Imagine the fear spreading across the world if terrorists launched coordinated attacks on major oil installations. A fear that the gas, electricity and food we all take for granted was no longer there, that we couldn’t feed ourselves and our children. This is not what 15000 Feet Below is about, but it provides the framework for a race against time to prevent the unmentionable from happening.
Are you a planner? Or do you prefer to dive straight into writing?
I would like to be a good planner, as it would save me time in the long run. But I’m not. I typically have a one or two page synopsis with plenty of loose ends by the time I get bored and turn to what I love: the writing. But I get there in the end, most of the time.
If you could write anyone's biography, whose would it be and why?
That’s a tough one. Probably Steve Alookee, one of the last surviving Inuit hunters to have led the life his people have lived for thousands of years.
What is your favourite song lyric?
Hold Back the Night by Sinead O’Connor.
Where do your best ideas come from?
Nowhere in particular, but it doesn’t work for me to wait for the inspiration to arrive. I have to sit down by my desk and pull it out. If I’m in the thick of a book, listening to music can help bring out ideas.
What are you working on at the moment?
I have two live projects.
1.One caught the interest of an agent some years ago, but in the end didn't come to anything. It's as a kind of Clan of the Cave Bear set in a future Ice Age but with an added race-against-time element. The few remaining Inuit-type people on earth face extinction when two crafts carrying descendants of those who left long ago for another planet return, totally unprepared for life in the freezer. The Inuit (or the Enuid as they call themselves) believe their gods have descended to earth to save them.
2.The other novel I'm working on is about a nanoscopic agent with a highly unusual origin, which is potentially catastrophic for mankind. Unless you accept the agent’s own dispassionate logic.
Tell us about your latest work and how we can find out more.
15000 Feet Below is my only published work so far but I plan to complete another two novels over the next couple of years. They all feature geology in some shape or form but as a backdrop rather than part of the story. In addition, the two I’m writing at the moment have an element of what I call ‘geoscience fiction’.
You can find out more on my website, www.madssorensen.com.
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Geoscience fiction - a new genre, I love it! Best of luck with the projects, Mads.
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