This page gathers together the information I found on Craig’s other works. If you can help fill in the blanks then please let me know.
Early Stories and Scripts
Craig wrote and sent an unsuccessful flow of stories to British magazines in his teens. Later during his 11 year teaching career he sent a series of just as unsuccessful TV and radio scripts to the BBC.
The first novel
From the 1993 press release: “I happened to have an idea for a thriller which I wanted to try as a radio serial. Instead, I turned it into a [300 page] novel; an eighteen month effort, but I managed it. To me, there seemed an awful lot wrong with it, so instead of editing and rewriting, I wrote Rat Trap, my first published novel.”
A Screenplay
The dust jacket of the Wolfsbane first edition, published in 1978, claimed that Craig had just finished his first screenplay. Whether or not it was based on a novel or was original I don’t know.
An Early Aubrey Book?
This is admittedly pure speculation on my part, but I can’t help thinking that there’s an unfinished book about Aubrey’s early life in a drawer somewhere. All the Grey Cats (Wildcat) is very specific about events throughout the 1940s, and even introduces the reader to Brigitte, very much a nemesis with whom Aubrey has “history”. The way the flashbacks in All the Grey Cats are described makes me think Craig is plundering an unused work. But again, I must stress this is pure speculation. And probably a desire to read the story of the young Aubrey chasing Brigitte and her father across snowbound Europe during the Berlin airlift!
The 1990 Radio play
Back in May/June 1990 the BBC’s Radio 4 ran a five-part serial called Literary Consequences. The basic idea was for five different British thriller authors to each write one part of a five part story. The series ran from Monday to Friday at 11:45 pm until midnight. Each author also got to introduce their part before the narrator took over. The order of the chapters was as follows:
| First broadcast: Mon 28th May 1990, 23:45 on BBC Radio 4 FM | Bob Peck reads a thriller serial by five bestselling writers – each picking up the story where the last one left off. Dead of Night (part 1) Colin Forbes starts with a 12-year-old boy, a lake and a copper bracelet. |
| First broadcast: Tue 29th May 1990, 23:45 on BBC Radio 4 FM | Dead of Night (part 2) Bob Peck reads a thriller serial by five bestselling writers – each picking up the story where the last one left off. Jack Higgins continues the story. Who murdered Livia Bayer? |
| First broadcast: Wed 30th May 1990, 23:45 on BBC Radio 4 FM | Dead of Night (3) Bob Peck reads a thriller serial by five bestselling writers – each picking up the story where the last one left off. Ken Follett continues the story. |
| First broadcast: Thu 31st May 1990, 23:45 on BBC Radio 4 FM | Dead of Night (part 4) Bob Peck reads a thriller serial by five bestselling writers – each picking up the story where the last one left off. Ted Allbeury continues the story. |
| First broadcast: Fri 1st Jun 1990, 23:45 on BBC Radio 4 FM | Dead of Night (5) Bob Peck reads a thriller serial by five bestselling writers – each picking up the story where the last one left off. Tonight Craig Thomas writes the final chapter, bringing the whole story to an exciting climax. |
Source: https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/search/0/20?q=literary+consequences#top
In an accompanying article in the Radio Times magazine Craig revealed that he insisted on writing either the first or the last part.
I can’t remember much about the plot but I do recall that Colin Forbes introduced a policeman character. Jack Higgins then added a tragic background with his old standby of an Irish-terrorist-in-dark-glasses villain. Ken Follett had a cliff-hanger ending to his humorous segment which was set at a funeral. Craig wrapped things up with a stand-off in a hotel.
“There to Here” & Philosophy
One of Craig’s interests is the history of philosophy. His book of essays, There to Here: Ideas of Political Society, was published in 1991 by Fontana Press. After that he was reportedly working on a two-volume commentary on the German philosopher, Friedrich Nietzsche, and most of the rest of Western philosophy. Perhaps he’s concentrating on that now?
Jethro Tull
Thanks to Mike for this: “After stating somewhere his interest in the rock group Jethro Tull, Ian Anderson (leader of Tull) asked Craig to write the accompanying booklet to the band’s 25 year 4 CD box set. Whilst not of the same ilk as his novels the booklet is still interesting to read. From a Tull fan’s perspective, Craig’s history of the band is interesting and, whilst I agree with some of his conclusions, I think that others are a little off. Still music (like literature) is a subjective experience.”
Complete news to me, but I have to admit I’m not much of a music person (other then the occasional soundtrack).