Fiona Erskine

Engineer. Writer. Swimmer.

About me

Engineer by day, writer by night.

In my day job, I’ve turned rock into fertilizer, recovered and recycled precious metals, brought medicines to market, made amazing new polymers,  exported electricity, and directed international construction projects.

I’ve written about my first job in a Leith fertiliser factory in Phosphate Rocks: A Death In Ten Objects.

Losing Control, my latest book, is set in Teesside and was published November 2024

Work means travel, and I never leave home without a book or twelve.

I love a good thriller, but where are the female action heroes?  Powerful, intelligent, honourable, compassionate women who get things done. Why aren’t they out there, solving mysteries and saving the world?  Where is the female Bourne, Reacher, MacGuyver or Bond? Well, I got sick of wondering and hoping, and decided to write the stories that I wanted to read.

Meet Dr Jaq Silver. She blows things up to keep people safe. Her adventures are available from all good bookshops and on-line.

I’m interested in white collar crime, in the scientific and technological choices that are made for us without our knowledge. I’m fascinated by industrial disasters and passionate about environmental justice.

I write about the road less travelled.

Fiona Erskine


The Road Not Taken

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

 


Sunny southern sojourn with friends and family and a stonkingly good book. London looking stunning!


In Houston for the day job, I went back to visit my old house and primary school from when my dad had a sabbatical at Rice University. Fleming park is much smaller than I remember but the fire ants are still there! Highlight was a full Tex-Mex with Theresa and Bhopal expert Kenneth Bloch - plans afoot for a new book.


I swam 24km in 5 days. Hard work?

Try tuna canning, salt drying or sulphur mining...

https://fionaerskine.substack.com/p/sulphur-and-salt


Goodbye #egadiislands and thank you @swimtrek for an amazing week - 24 kilometres with wonderful guides, fellow swimmers and multicoloured fishes!


This week #PhosphateRocks e-book is only £0.99 in UK

Who doesn't love a story about a demolition gone wrong? @raine_clouds_writes @lesleykellyauthor 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Phosphate-Rocks-Death-Ten-Objects-ebook/dp/B0CTRRXKNY

PS: The audio book narrated by @rain.goblin is pretty special too


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We're thrilled our next guest will be @radiomukhers. Abir will be talking about 'The Pinnacle', 15th July (7pm).

It's free to attend @hull_libraries (Central) or via the online stream. All the info on the link below 📚

If you can get there then do, these sessions are hilarious

Produce a best seller in an hour with the #northerncrimesyndicate at @BoroLibraries Tuesday 23rd June 6.30pm.
@TrevorWoodWrite @judithoreilly @robparkerauthor @rutherfordbooks #chrismacgregor
https://www.crossingthetees.org/whats_on/whose-crime-is-it-anyway/

📢 Latest Loss Prevention Bulletin Issue - Marking 40 Years Since Chernobyl

The issue offers valuable insights for anyone committed to strengthening process safety.

A sincere thank‑you to all contributors for their continued commitment

🔗 Read more: https://bit.ly/4uCIfIS

This weekend marks the 40 year anniversary of the worst recorded nuclear accident.
There is still much to learn.
#Chernobyl #Chornobyl #nuclearenergy #processsafety
https://open.substack.com/pub/fionaerskine/p/chernobyl-40-years-on?r=1fdqiv&utm_medium=ios

Still plenty of events to come!😁 More info and ticket links here: 👉 https://www.carolynkirby.com/blank-page-3

How refreshing to read @Megankstack in the @nytimes
‘A zombie regime, humiliated and crushed? Why do I find myself thinking of Russia’s Soviet Union-to-Vladimir Putin trajectory?’

Top cinema visit #1 was the glorious #HAMNET - a reminder of just how good a movie can be

Movie #2 of #3 - Astonishing #Marama . New Zealand horror is not for the faint hearted, but even if (like me) you close your eyes, the brilliant sound will fill in the gaps. Unforgettably…

Thoroughly enjoyed #3 of 3 cinema visits #WutheringHeightsMovie - a book I have always loathed. Over analysis does it no favours, I was swept away by the sound and visuals… and it’s laugh-out loud funny in places which leavens the grinding grimness.

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All my books