Nothing Left to Lose #author Danny Singer

When Flight MH066 mysteriously vanishes an hour after leaving Kuala Lumpur, the world assumes catastrophe.

In truth, its passengers are en route to an abandoned Soviet airbase in Tajikistan, recruited into Project Lazarus, a covert scheme offering broken souls a chance to begin again. At its center is James, a former MI6 officer determined to seize control of his life by giving others an escape from theirs.

But in New York, solitary conspiracy theorist Truman becomes convinced the passengers survived and builds an AI tool to prove it. His search leads him to Pauline, a British woman fleeing unbearable grief, and to Rami and Amara, lovers defying the conflict that divides them.

As secrets unravel and pasts refuse to stay buried, Project Lazarus begins to fracture. Is reinvention ever truly possible, or does truth always find a way home?

Nothing Left to Lose is a gripping, thought-provoking story of survival, identity and the price of freedom.

Debut British author, ex-Military Intelligence officer, and mathematics graduate, which provided him with first hand insight into the workings of secret security services, influencing the authenticity of his writing

To connect with Danny ...
https://www.dannysingerauthor.com/
https://www.instagram.com/dannysinger19
https://www.linkedin.com/in/dannysinger/ 

Transcript

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SPEAKER_01 0:02

It's good morning. Danny Singer. Welcome to Yellow Shelf.

SPEAKER_00 0:06

Good morning.

SPEAKER_01 0:07

It's good morning for you. Good evening for me because we're in different hemispheres. Danny, so thank you very much for joining us. I'm excited to have you because your book is available now, out now. It's called Nothing Left to Lose. Tell us about your book. Congratulations, debut author.

SPEAKER_00 0:25

Thank you. This this book uh happened completely by accident. Uh I had no intention of writing a novel. I didn't know how to write a novel. That was about 12 years ago. Uh and uh it all started with, if if you remember, the disappearance of MH370 in 2014. And nobody knew what happened to it. It just vanished uh intentionally, apparently. Uh and uh it flew for another seven hours after it disappeared. Uh and and everybody knew that uh because of some kind of satellite pings that that that happened. So I it kind of I got obsessed with this idea of, you know, what would you do on a for seven hours on a flight that led to death, effectively? Um, you know, would you pray? Would you would you riot? Would you try and take over the plane? What would you do? Um so then it kind of I thought the optimistic view is that what if they all actually were quite happy to disappear? Uh and you know, how could that be arranged? How could it happen? Uh and then slowly, bit by bit, I had this kind of story in my mind that that kind of assembled itself like a like a jigsaw puzzle. Um and then it involved an MI6X agent and some abandoned Soviet base in Afghanistan in Tajikistan and the Afghan-Soviet war, and some some uh uh uh uh American uh uh conspiracy theorists, and all this kind of assembled in my head, but then I had no tools on how to how to write this. So I took three writing courses over the space of about three years uh with the Faber Academy. Uh so I at least I acquired the basic tools of the trade. And then it took another three years to to write the damn thing. Uh and uh um to my surprise, um I submitted to a couple of awards, and I I actually won the um the Wilbur Smith New Voices Award. Yeah. Um and I thought, well, it must be something in this. Yeah. Um so uh this is how the story was born. Eventually uh I got picked up by the by the Book Guild, a small publisher here in the UK, and and here we are.

SPEAKER_01 2:41

Here we are indeed. And you know, I love that you shared the journey because I was reading, you know, about uh, you know, your journey. Um, you know, lots of rejections. There was a lot, this didn't this was an overnight success. And there was ghosting and there was just sheer persistence on your part.

SPEAKER_00 3:01

Absolutely. It's uh it you know, trying to trying to land an agent as a debut writer, if you're not a celebrity or you're not well known in any way, uh these days is is as rare as Hans Thief. It's really very, very difficult. Um so I had about 20 rejections, all very polite. Um basically saying, look, it's it's it's all very nice, but it's not really what we're looking for. Sure. Uh so um I decided to actually go for small publishers, and that was probably a good move. Yeah. Um so um I encourage everyone that has a novel in them that not to give up.

SPEAKER_01 3:38

Yes, yes, wonderful, wonderful chair. And Danny, do you want to tell us a little bit about you? Again, I was reading about you. Um lots lots to your career, lots to your uh studies. What anyone watching or listening and wants to get to know you, what do you want to tell us a bit about you?

SPEAKER_00 3:57

Um well, nothing too exciting. Uh I have uh um I I've studied maths, so I'm I'm a mathematician by by trade, um, pure maths. Uh this was my passion as a young man.

SPEAKER_01 4:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 4:12

Um then I spent five years in military intelligence doing things I can't really talk about. Uh uh and uh and uh having left that uh I've set up a technology company which I still manage to this day. Um so um I'm a kind of techie math mathematician turned techie turned turned author.

SPEAKER_01 4:36

That's fascinating. That's fascinating. That that journey of your career and you know, pivots, and is that's fascinating now that you're an author.

SPEAKER_00 4:47

Yeah, I'm also you that exactly. It's like a mathematician turned spy, turned, turned techie, turned author now. Um so uh but I uh author is the probably out of all these things, probably the most satisfying one. Well, um it's uh I'm I'm writing my next one now, and it's become an addiction. You know, I can't possibly not write at the moment. Yeah, uh it's it's one of the most satisfying things. I think these days, though, there are probably probably more writers than read writers than readers around the world. Uh but uh um that shouldn't stop anyone. I think a lot of people write because they have a passion for writing. Uh, and I think that that that's a good thing. Uh and you know, whether you sell 10 copies or 10 million copies in the end, doesn't matter.

SPEAKER_01 5:33

So true. And Danny, you know, my philosophy is writers, readers, everyone's welcome on Yellow Shelf because you know, we're about just yeah, continually keeping readers curious and authors, you know, um exposed. So Danny, thanks so much for joining us. If we're watching anywhere in the world and we want to get curious about your book, purchase the book, you know, are you on socials? Are you have a website? Tell us where we go. Because I know I saw places where your book's available, but you know, point us in the direction where we know more.

SPEAKER_00 6:06

First of all, I now have a dedicated website. It's danysingerauthor.com. Yep. Uh so there you will find all the links to uh all the places where you can get the book. You can get it as a paperback. Uh uh if you if you're in the UK, you can you know you can get it from most outlets and bookshops. Uh if you're outside the UK, then you can order it through Amazon. Um and also it's available as an ebook. Um so you can you can get it absolutely anywhere, anywhere in the world. Um, and the links are on the website. I'm also obviously on or there's actually a an Instagram book tour happening this week. Um so if you care to follow that, then there's a lot of people who review the book online. Um and uh uh I've seen the first reviews yesterday. Uh and I'm delighted, and none of them are negative.

SPEAKER_01 6:59

Danny, I'm gonna I'm gonna put all those links that you've just explained, the show notes to make it easy for anyone curious to connect with you and you know, learn more, get the book. Um, and you know, you need some reviews. So we we want the audience to dive in anywhere in the world. But you know, and because that the that mystery around that plane is global. It's I mean, that was huge in Australia.

SPEAKER_00 7:25

So it's absolutely and it's uh I must say just before we go that the book is not really about the plane. No, no, I sure the the book is about a plane, but the most important thing is the characters. I'm trying to find out what can drive a human being to actually try to abandon their existing life and try to start a new life. And is that even possible in terms of the psychological makeup? You know, how much are we influenced by our past? Yes, uh, and how much can we jettison it and and and move on? This is really what the book is about. So it's character, it's more about character, as you know. Sure. Scott Fitzgerald said, characters plot plot is character. So I think it's it's more about the characters.

SPEAKER_01 8:08

And that's what book lovers love. So, Danny, well done. And Danny, will you come back with future books that you're gonna launch? I would love to get you back and continue to support you.

SPEAKER_00 8:19

Wonderful. Thank you very much for the opportunity. I appreciate it.

SPEAKER_01 8:22

It's been great to chat. Thanks, Danny.

SPEAKER_00 8:25

Thank you very much.