This autumn the world is about to be granted its very first glimpse inside the Ozone Hotel.
This innovative gender-blending sci-fi novel written by newcomer R. K. Williams is described by comedian and writer Stephen Fry as a new ‘camp classic’.
Author R. K. Williams describes it as “The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy meets RuPaul’s Drag Race”.
The story begins in 1929 when Mr Brown, a bank clerk, unexpectedly receives a Golden Ticket enabling him to travel to the Ozone Hotel, a magnificent and mysterious property floating above the clouds. Mr Brown finds himself whisked from London and embarking on an adventure which changes his life. Along the way he meets fabulous quirky time travellers including Chloë Passion, Global Baby, Celeste Skyworld and the Vandeyla twins. He also encounters the evil tyrant Lucy-Fur Quimm, a villain from the 32nd century, who wants to destroy the hotel.
Little wonder The Ozone Hotel has been described as ‘like walking through a Dali painting.’ The ‘fabulously camp romp’ has received extraordinarily positive reviews, including a camp-tastic endorsement from the broadcaster, actor and author Stephen Fry. He said:
R. K. Williams said: “The Ozone Hotel is a place where quite simply, I would love to go. The kernel of the idea came from my student days in Leeds where like-minded friends would meet in the Palm Court lounge at The Queens Hotel. It became a salon of creative people who all dreamed of a better life.
“Curiously enough the characters lived and grew with me over the years. I started writing an early draft of the book in the mid-nineties in London. Yet in real life things changed forever in 2007 when I was diagnosed with M.E. / Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. Confined to my bed, I was to remain there for three years, and my imagination was all that was left in that dark place. The characters kept me company and it was there, during those ten years of illness, that I decided to complete the book. When I became a little better I would have an hour each day where I could be creative, so I would write and slowly the first fully formed manuscript of The Ozone Hotel emerged.
“I very much believe The Ozone Hotel is a metaphor for creative freedom. While there are intricate plot twists which I hope will please sci-fi geeks, it has lashings of glitter and glamour too.”
R. K. Williams’s partner Steve Smith is a BAFTA award-winning television director best known for The Graham Norton Show Steve said,
“After years working as a TV director with celebrities, I’m delighted to be able to help my partner promote his book.”
Publisher, Vicki Watson of Callisto Green, said:
“The book is a fabulous and flamboyant antidote to everyday life, a little bit of frivolity in what can be an overly serious world. R. K. Williams is an author full of sparkle, wit and imagination, and I smiled all the way through reading the manuscript. Everyone needs a trip to the Ozone Hotel!”
The Ozone Hotel will be published 15th September 2017 and is the first in a series of five books. Ebook formats available from January 2018.