Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
0:00
|
6:13
Nautilus is a machine with the astonishing power to send messages eight weeks back in time. Its users must follow a set of protocols established by Alan Turing, including that it can only be used by a descendant of the Turing family and only to avert global disasters.
But what would happen if it fell into the wrong hands? In this follow-up to The Turing Protocol, Nautilus becomes a dangerous plaything in the hands of rogue operators, who want to use it for power, personal gain and even to bring down nations.
Will the machine's capacity for good outweigh its potential for catastrophic harm?
To connect with Nick .... https://www.instagram.com/nickcroydonauthor/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicholas-croydon-45221081
SPEAKER_01
Good morning, Nick Croydon. Welcome to Yellow Shelf.
SPEAKER_00
Thank you for having me.
SPEAKER_01
Ah, Nick, we're in different hemispheres. So it's good morning for you. Ladish afternoon for me here in Australia. Excited to have you here. I was just sharing. I've I've wanted to have you on before. And finally, we've made it happen. Congratulations. Your latest book is out now. Nautilus, tell us all about it.
SPEAKER_00
Yep, so Nautilus is the the second my second book. My first one being The Turing Protocol, which I know you've you've read. And we left the situation on the first book where our central character, Annabelle, had destroyed the machine, you know, and it was kind of it could potentially have been all over. And then in the second book, I kind of investigate whether she would be interested in rebuilding Nausilus, the machine that can send the message back eight weeks into your earlier self. And I don't suppose it's giving too much away to say they go down that path. And then we start investigating what happens when humans get involved with technology. It can go either way.
SPEAKER_01
Yes, thriller, absolutely. And that idea of tech and power and greed and control. And like you alluded to, moral responsibility.
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, that's right. So it was it was a it was great to be able to have a baddie, right? Like in the first book, I didn't have too many baddies. So with Edward, I've got this lovely character, you know, who who just yeah, just comes off the rails, right? Um, and we can investigate, yeah, as you say, those dilemmas you have when you're dealing with power and greed and betrayal. Um and yeah, I loved writing about all those lovely emotions.
SPEAKER_01
Yeah. And Nick, can I ask about you? You've got this background in storytelling and publishing, so you can share what you want about that. But I'm curious about you as a writer. What's your process? Are you up at four writing? Are you um dedicated? Like what's do you just write as you feel? I'd love you to share that.
SPEAKER_00
Yeah. So obviously, yeah, I have an important day job being a CEO of QBD. Yes. Uh, and that takes up a lot of time, um, as you'd imagine. And so yeah, I tend to write uh in the evening. So um when I get home from work, um, depending whether the family's around or not, so sometimes they are traveling, um, and I can use a lot of that spare time then to write. Um, but I pretty much write anywhere. So I will write on a plane, right? Uh I love writing on a plane, it's like the most boring existence, even if it's an hour and a half flight down to Sydney or something. It's like an hour and a half I can just put my headphones on and and write. Yes. Um, so I do yeah, I'm pretty much uh grab anything from half an hour to four hours to write something down. I do um I do have chapter plans. I like to have a chapter plan. I'm very methodical, I like my numbers. So, you know, I set myself targets. Oh yeah, I'm gonna write 5,000 words this week, you know, and I'm very target related because of my day job. Uh and I've kind of set I set myself that up in in my writing that yeah, I've got a you've got to progress. And yeah, yeah, it it's it's very daunting when you start the process. You go, oh my god, I've got 80,000 words to go. Um, but then I yeah, again, being a bit of a numbers person, yeah, once you've done a few pages, you're like, oh, I'm actually you know five percent done, right? And then you're 10% done. And and once you get to 25, like, oh wow, I'm quarter the way through. Yeah, but you know, and yeah, then it just keeps you going. Yes, yeah, yeah. That's my point.
SPEAKER_01
Oh, holding yourself accountable is it sounds like the process that's working for you, Nick. Yeah, Nick, that's um that's wonderful that you shared that. Can I quickly ask, what's the plan? Are you gonna keep writing, having a day job? Like, uh is there more books to be released? Is that the plan?
SPEAKER_00
I think so. Yeah, I I I can certainly see Nautilus um being extended in the future. Um, you know, again, as a tool, yeah, a tool for the for the clandestine services. Yeah, I can see I got um that happening. And then I've also got a few ideas for standalones. Um I've got one I'm I'm looking at the moment, all about you know the sort of history of the Irish and and and and how they've gone all over the world and had success. So um yeah, I'm I'm enjoying the writing. So until I stop enjoying it, I'm gonna keep on going, I think.
SPEAKER_01
Watch this space, Nick. No pressure, because you're meant to enjoy uh time in the northern hemisphere and obviously uh enjoy Nautilus. Thank you so much for joining us, Nick. I'll put some links in the show notes to make it easy for anyone who's curious about you, curious about your work. I'll put some links in uh on where people can connect with you and the book. Nick, thanks for joining me.
SPEAKER_00
Thank you very much for the for the uh interview. I enjoyed it.
