AN eighth generation oysterman says he was inspired by Colchester's link to the Romans after securing a multi book deal. 

Tom Haward, who runs Richard Haward Oysters, always loved writing as a child and dreamt of becoming a published author.

Tom, completed a master’s in creative writing in 2016, and wrote a book about battling depression. 

Debut - Tom Haward's debut novel The Path of Chaos came out in August 2023Debut - Tom Haward's debut novel The Path of Chaos came out in August 2023 (Image: Submitted)

He said: "I was trying to share it with other people and like I say other other men, because it's hard as a man to talk about it, especially in the industry I'm in, you know, working with waterfront fishermen."

Tom's writing then naturally evolved to include more humour,  and he added: "I realised I was healing because I didn't want to just write about depression anymore.

"I wanted to write about stuff to entertain, and create, and 'cause people to want to turn those pages."

Tom’s published work is set in an alternative history where the Romans are still ruling Britain.

He joked a recent online meme about men spending a lot of time thinking about the Roman Empire “is maybe true”.

Tom said writing about the Romans was inspired by the Roman history of Colchester and Mersea.

Tom added: "I made the point of trying not to write about oysters too much in my books.

"So it's not just like a busman's holiday."

Sequel - Tom Haward's 'The Path of Revenge' comes out August 6Sequel - Tom Haward's 'The Path of Revenge' comes out August 6 (Image: Submitted)

To encourage budding authors, Tom suggests writing a lot of short stories and enter competitions to hone your craft.

With Tom, the publisher that he sent a short story to then asked him if he was writing anything longer before quickly giving him a book deal for a trilogy.

This meant as well as running a business, Tom had to write three books in three years, with his debut the Path of Chaos being published in August 2023 and his second book the Path of Revenge coming out on August 6.

While the final book in the series will be published in 2025.

Tom added: "There's lots going on - I'll try to be careful not to stretch myself too much."

To pre-order the Path of Revenge visit https://cinnabarmoth.com/the-path-of-revenge-tom-haward/