IT’S said that everyone has a book inside them.

For new author Chris Ridgeon that was certainly true – and now the idea he harboured for about five years has now become a reality and is published and in the shops.

Mr Ridgeon, 62, of Norman Close, Felixstowe, began work on his novel MK121 two years ago after taking early retirement.

Set in the early 22nd century, MK121 is a tale of political intrigue, corruption, human relationships and action of a kind usually reserved for the realms of science fantasy but set against a believable background based on past, current and potential future developments.

Mr Ridgeon said the climax to the story is both dramatic and unexpected.

He said: “I had the idea for the book for about five years, and retirement gave me the time to sit down and have a go.

“I have no latent ambition to be an author, but I have thoroughly enjoyed the experience of writing, forming the characters, getting into their heads so much that by the end I knew exactly what they would say and do,” he said.

“I had one book in me but I have to say I am tempted to do a sequel and I have a few ideas I am swilling around.”

Mr Ridgeon, who is married to Andrea, worked in shipping for 22 years and then for 12 years for the rail industry. Although his novel tells the story of a Space Force fleet despatched to reclaim an Earth protectorate planet from an aggressive alien empire, he stresses it was important that the story was based on a possible reality.

? MK121 is available from bookshops and Amazon via the web.