Philip K Allan

Philip K Allan is a British author. He still lives in the UK with his wife and his two teenage daughters. He has an excellent knowledge of the 18th century navy and believes the period has unrivalled potential for a writer. On the one hand there is the strange, claustrophobic wooden world of the period’s ships and on the other hand there is the boundless freedom to move those ships around the globe wherever the narrative takes them. All these possibilities are fully exploited in the Alexander Clay novels. Philip’s inspiration for the series was to build on the works of novelists like C.S. Forester and in particular Patrick O’Brian. His prose is heavily influenced by O’Brian’s immersive style. He too uses meticulously researched period language and authentic nautical detail to draw the reader into a different world. But the Alexander Clay books also bring something fresh to the genre, with a cast of fully formed lower deck characters with their own back histories and plot lines in addition to the officers. Think Downton Abbey on a ship, with the lower deck as the below stairs servants. Learn more at www.philipkallan.com