ASPIRING Trowbridge writer Steve Good is hoping to get the word out about his debut novel, after self-publishing the climate change fiction story Stitch In Time through Amazon.

The 49-year-old had the idea to write a novel with climate change at its heart in around 2006/07, writing notes in a small notebook he carried around, before starting to create a plan of the story.

It took him around a year to do a first draft while working full time, looking after his three children and studying for an Open University Degree, before submitting a manuscript to publishers.

He left the book for a while after several rejections, but returned to it in 2009 and submitted it again only to be rejected once more. However, he vowed to try one last time this year and has now published the book through Amazon’s self-publishing tool, Createspace.

“The book was a long time in the writing,” said Mr Good. “I have always written things like comic strips since I was a child, and as an adult have written work newsletters, and made up stories for my children.

“But I am a great believer in the old adage that everyone has a novel inside them and for many years I have been concerned, as many of us are, about climate change.”

Mr Good was a founding member of the LEAF (Local Environmental Awareness Forum) group run from Trowbridge Town Council, but said it unfortunately came to an end round two year ago.

Stitch In Time tells the story of an estranged father and son trying to reconnect against the backdrop of catastrophic global climate change, something Mr Good believes is even more relevant now.

“Having just passed my final exam for my BSc (Hons), I vowed to try one last time with Stitch In Time and I discovered that Amazon offer a self-publishing tool called Createspace,” said Mr Good.

“So I took the plunge, reformatted my novel, designed a cover and went ahead and published it – so it is now available to buy in both paperback and Kindle versions from Amazon.co.uk. Sadly my dad died in April, so he just missed seeing the first published copy.”

Mr Good, who works as a test analyst for a high street bank, added: “I feel it is a pertinent time for my story to be told, with the pivotal Paris Climate Summit coming up in a couple of months.”

Stitch In Time is available as a paperback from Amazon for £7.99 or on Kindle for £3.85.