‘Stalker’ is a centuries old hunting term, but it has acquired the meaning of a person so obsessed with someone else that they constantly try to force themselves into their lives.  They can range from a nuisance to a violent and terrifying threat, often when their sexual advances are rejected.

Of course everyday folk suffer stalking.  For the most part the perpetrators are men stalking women, but not always.  There are women stalkers and same-sex stalkers.  Stalkers can be strangers to their target or anything through to ex romantic partners or even ex spouses who refuse to accept the end of a relationship.  They can be work colleagues or even Police officers. 

Celebrities can be particularly at risk, simply because more people are aware of them and because of the adulation, or occasionally popular dislike they attract.  People might wish to emulate a particular famous person (or a character they play) and this can easily slip over into dangerous and even lethal fantasy.  A disturbed stalker might actually come to believe that they are the target celebrity, who they then regard as an imposter who has stolen their life and deserves to be punished.  John Lennon was shot by such a person.  Others might see their famous target in the light of a hunting trophy whose murder will bring them fame.  The singer Selena was murdered by her own (female) fan club president and others such as Madonna, Beyonce, Justin Bieber, Taylor Swift and many others have received death threats or actual/attempted attacks, while ex-Beatle George Harrison’s death from cancer was undoubtedly hastened when he was stabbed by an obsessed fan who had broken into his home.

Whoever the target may be, stalking is clearly a very serious issue, but it’s one which can often be made light of, especially in its early stages. Victims may find it difficult to get the police to take an interest, all to often until it’s too late.   It thus needs a good deal more attention from law enforcement, mental health professionals and society as a whole.

I wanted to do my small bit in that fight, so the issue looms large in my next book, ‘Martine’.  The novel is a prequel to the main ‘Saltbury Chronicles’ series, based in the mid 1970s.  It tells the story of how my central character, Hazel Fauld’s, lesbian mothers first met.  17 year old Debbie Stewart is a teenage Rock sensation, already on the cusp of global stardom, while 19 year old Martine Fauld is an unknown ‘Design’ student.  Both regard themselves as heterosexual and their relationship develops only tentatively over a period of years.

Deb meanwhile battles a culture of sexism in the music industry.  She also faces increasingly frightening incidents with a stalker when on tour, culminating in a murderous attack which she only just survives.  The book is written from Debbie’s perspective and I hope it may give people’s senses a jog, especially when showing that apparently trivial events that might be dismissed by the authorities, and even the victim, as little more than a nuisance, can develop into life threatening danger if ignored.  This is particularly so when hatred is whipped up by a bigoted, sensationalist Press that seems to feel no responsibility whatever for its actions.

Oh, and if you read my last book, ‘Saltbury Tales’, there are already hints to the events of ‘Martine’, especially in the stories ‘Penny’, ‘Aleyse’ and ‘Chantel’.