• January
• February
• March
• April
• May
• June
• July
• August
• September
• October
• November
• December

Galaxy Exclusives

• The Life and Soul of Party
• An interview with Mike Gayle
• Wish You Were Here postcards

The Life and Soul of Party

• Read an extract of Mike's next novel [the_life_and_soul_of_the_party_extract.pdf] (0.16 MB)

An interview with Mike Gayle

What first inspired you to begin writing?

I think I’d always wanted to be writer even when I was very young. I can remember around the age of seven spending whole afternoons folding pieces of paper up and stapling them to make books, although usually I’d spend more time working on the cover than I would on the actual content. In my teens my love affair with music began to bloom and that led me to want to become a music journalist. While studying Sociology at university in Salford I began reviewing and writing interviews with bands, and I started up a music magazine with a friend of mine. Five years later however having completed a Post Graduate Diploma in Magazine Journalism I suddenly found myself working as an agony uncle on the teenage girl’s magazine Bliss.

How did you make the move from agony uncle to novelist?

Writing for teenagers was great fun. Every day was completely different. One day I’d be flying to LA with a pop band and the next I’d be attempting to explain the mind-set of teenage boys to teenage girls. As time went on however I knew that I wanted to try out different challenges and when the idea for my first book MY LEGENDARY GIRLFRIEND came to me I handed in my notice, went freelance and started writing. One year later it was bought at auction by my publishers and turned into a number one bestseller.

How did you the idea for writing WISH YOU WERE HERE first come to you?

I was actually lying on a beach in Malta with my wife when the idea came to me. We had been watching various groups of Spanish twenty-somethings with perfect bodies parade up and down the beach and were discussing how old they were making us feel! After that I started playing around with various ideas until suddenly it all came to me: three guys in their mid-thirties lying about their ages in order to go on an 18-30 holiday. The second I told my wife she said: “You should call it Wish You Were Here,” and that’s when I knew it was exactly the right story for me.

How did you come up with the characters of Charlie, Andy and Tom?

Charlie, the central character, came to me first because I knew that I wanted this to be his story and the idea of him being dragged on holiday after being dumped just seemed like it would be his worst nightmare. Andy came next as I knew that I needed a character who would be a constant thorn in Charlie’s side and he fitted the bill perfectly. I think most men have had an Andy in their life at some point. He’s great fun to be with and makes you laugh like a drain but he’s also the kind of person who’s always trying to goad you into doing things that you know you shouldn’t do. Finally, Tom is I suppose the complete opposite of Andy and of the three friends he’s the most mature but at the same time I wanted to show that even though he was more grown up than the others he still hadn’t got everything about life worked out.

What has been the response of readers to WISH YOU WERE HERE?

The reader response has been fantastic. Readers have really got behind the book and it has become a firm beach read favourite. I’ve also lost count of the number of readers who having never read anything by me before have now gone out and bought my entire backlist. My favourite response so far has been from a couple up in Leeds who called it “the perfect space saving device for overstuffed suitcases!” because of all the books they packed to take on holiday it was the only one that they were both desperate to read.

Your books are considered to be very British and yet have now been translated into over twenty different languages including Mandarin and Russian. What do you think is the secret of their international success?

I think it all comes down to the fact that no matter where you are in the world the things that matter most to you in life tend to be relationships. People like reading books about characters that are a bit like themselves and even though there might be certain cultural differences between the characters and the reader at the heart of all the books there is a universality that transcends these kinds of barriers.

Outside of books what would you say are your main sources of inspiration for your writing?

I’m a big fan of DVD box sets and big American dramas and so I love things like The Sopranos, Mad Men, Battlestar Galatica as well as homemade TV like Life On Mars and Doctor Who. Also music plays a big part in my life and I’ll always be indebted to bands like The Smiths and The Wedding Present as well as more recent bands like Beirut. My main inspiration however is the group of friends that I’ve been meeting up with once a week for about the last five years or so. They’re the best bunch of people in the world, tell the greatest stories and make me laugh constantly. Every time one of them starts telling me about their week it’s all I can do to stop myself whipping out a pencil and start taking notes.

What’s next for Mike Gayle?

My next book is due out in August and is called THE LIFE AND SOUL OF PARTY and it’s based on a year in the life of three couples spread across a variety of different parties. I’m really excited about it because there’s something about it that feels very fresh and new while still remaining unmistakably a Mike Gayle novel. I’ll be keeping my fingers crossed that everyone else feels that way too! Following that I’ve got another project on the way that I’m incredibly excited about. It’s my first foray into non-fiction and while I can’t say too much about it yet I can assure you that it will be a definite must for anyone who’s ever felt like there’s too much to do and too little time to do it all!

Wish You Were Here postcards

• Postcard 1 [wish_you_were_here_postcard1.gif] (0.74 MB)
• Postcard 2 [wish_you_were_here_postcard_2.gif] (0.94 MB)
• Postcard 3 [wish_you_were_here_postcard3.gif] (0.99 MB)
• Postcard 4 [wish_you_were_here_postcard4.gif] (0.92 MB)

Book of the Month

Read more