THE DAY OF TRIFFIDS (1962) turned me into a horror movie fan at the tender age of 6 years old. I hid behind my mum’s armchair watched it while my parents did. I was scared and thrilled all at the same time and knew I needed to see more.
A FIELD OF DREAMS (1989) convinced me to pursue my dream of motor racing. I watched these people give it their all for something they believed in and knew I’d regret my dream to race cars if I didn’t do the same.
Alanis Morrisette’s song ONE HAND IN MY POCKET got me out of a PTSD funk. I’d been in a car wreck where I’d walked away and the other person hadn’t. I was in a very sad place and I wasn’t sure how I was going to move on with my life until I caught the video on MTV. The song for some reason woke me up. I took a look at my life as it was and made changes.
A high school friend gave me a copy of Raymond Chandler’s THE LADY IN THE LAKE when I was thirteen because I needed a book for a school report. I fell in love with the hardboiled and noir genre and I never looked back.
Gomez’s song WHIPPIN’ PICCADILLY was the last song I heard before leaving the UK to move to the US. I’d never heard of the band up until then but I liked their sound and discovering a new band as I was about to embark on a new life seemed fitting. The first thing I did upon arriving in the US was to buy their album BRING IT ON. It’s something I listen to while I’m writing and it already reminds me of new beginnings.
Simon
Simon Wood is an English-born former competitive race car driver, a licensed pilot and an occasional PI. He is the Anthony Award winning author of 12 novels, including WORKING STIFFS, ACCIDENTS WAITING TO HAPPEN, PAYING THE PIPER and WE ALL FALL DOWN. Simon shares his world with his American wife, Julie in California where their lives are dominated by a longhaired dachshund and five cats. You can find him on Twitter and Facebook.