Welcome to my website!

I’m Alan Miles.

Some authors spend their whole lives writing. Others, like me, spend their whole lives living, then write. 

After an eventful, utterly unplanned career — starting as an English language teacher, moving on to journalism and broadcasting in the Middle East, then suddenly finding myself a partner in an award-winning computer business with a spectacular rise and fall — I have plenty of stories to tell. 

Two of them, books entitled The Foreign Aide and The Marathon Years, are scheduled for 2026 release. Let me introduce them.

Alan Miles speaking to an audience at the Moya Cole Hospice in May 2025. Behind him a choir is standing, laughing.
For a writer who spends so much time alone with a computer, there's nothing better than talking to a live audience, especially when you have a choir standing behind you!

THE FOREIGN AIDE

The Foreign Aide is a dark fiction shaped by my experience as a first-hand witness of the early months of the Lebanese Civil War in 1975 — a war that eventually lasted for 15 years.

The book tells the story of four expatriates who shelter together for safety. But as the fighting intensifies, so do their relationships — until there’s a flashpoint, a misunderstanding and a breakdown. Who’s to blame? I’ll let you decide.

What follows next may serve as a warning, more relevant today than ever: not to allow ourselves to be led into wars we don’t understand by people we should’t trust.

Read sample chapters
Buy the book
Front cover for 'The Foreign Aide' by Alan Miles. A crescent moon shines in an evening sky. In the foreground, in shadow, an Arab shisha pipe. Behind the outline of a city, smoking. At the bottom, a tagline: 'Who can you trust in love and war?'

THE MARATHON YEARS

This is a personal memoir, the story of our decade-long battle defying dementia after my wife Lena was diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimers in 2013. A story that shows how love and hope can survive even in the darkest times. An experience that has helped me to shape a radical new approach to adult social care.

My plan is to publish the book in early December 2026, but you can read the early chapters here.

Read sample chapters
The Marathon Years cover - Lena and Alan Miles happy together, but one of them has dementia
A woman reading a newspaper called 'Book Review'
READERS ARE SAYING ...
eCapris (Goodreads)on 'Waiting For Orders'
I read through the first quarter of 'Waiting for Orders' without knowing what I was in for. Well played, Mr. Miles. As soon as I reached that sentence (that hinge, that sentence that makes you stop short and go "Wait a second..."), I had to click back and make sure I hadn't gone mentally astray at some point.

I hadn't. The story goes somewhere I never would have expected, an intellectual space that is usually reserved for children and romantic picnickers. But not here - 'Waiting for Orders' readers are allowed a little brainplay.
Tim (Goodreads)on 'The Foreign Aide'
The Lebanese Troubles (=the original title of 'The Foreign Aide) Impressive work! The author pulled no punches and did not give in to a shred of sentimentality. I've never been to Beirut, but I remember the coverage of the seemingly endless civil war there in the late 70s and 80s, the destruction of the city, the famous Green Line. From the perspective of an outsider observer, Miles captured some of the hopelessness and violence of that conflict and displayed it, not only in describing the environment of the city and its citizens but also in the tortured psyche of Richard. Well done.
Liz Matthews (via Miles Posts)on 'The Marathon Years'
Alan, this is the first time I found you. I wanted to tell you that your writing is both sensitive and insightful — a rare combination indeed.
Rod Raglan (Goodreads)on 'The Lebanese Troubles' now retitled as 'The Foreign Aide'
This book is well written and the description of Beirut is terrific, the setting becomes a character onto itself and a significant one. The description of war – mostly boring then suddenly deadly, sounds authentic as are the attitudes of the civilians – coping, waiting and hoping it will end when it only gets worse, much worse.

Characters are fully developed from the oily and smooth Amin, the impatient and practical Dave, the seductress Monique, the proper English Claire, and the adventurous larger than life Lawrence.

But this gritty and authentic book has one flaw - a weak and unlikeable protagonist.
Retha Groenewald (via Miles Posts)on 'The Marathon Years'
I read one of your chapters. I want to follow your journey. It took me back to some of my memories. They say a picture paints a thousand words. Your words paint galleries.
eCapris (Goodreads)on 'Waiting for Orders'
in the opening pages, Miles suggests that the reader mentally narrate the story with the voice of young Jack Nicholson. I have never, in all my reading life, been issued such a suggestion (for any voice, let alone one so particular), but listen here - it was a great time!

I found myself chuckling at chunks of dialogue I might not have found as humorous if I didn't have that voice drawling its way around my skull. Also, thinking about young Jack Nicholson somehow made me feel that this short story, published in 2010, was somehow classic! Neat trick.

And the ending! Boy, I didn't see that coming either. It ended rather abruptly for my taste; I wanted more! The quick-draw ending doesn't soften the piece, though. It just leaves the reader itching for more Miles.
Clare (via Goodreads)on 'The Foreign Aide'
The writing was definitely my favourite part of the Lebanese Troubles (= the original title of 'The Foreign Aide'). It was a visual experience; I felt like I was actually there, in Lebanon, facing all the dangers of civil war along with the characters.

One thing I will note is that the dialogue does not use quotation marks, but dashes, which I believe is more of a French thing. There were no 'he saids' or 'she saids' — which you think could get confusing, but it doesn’t. The dialogue was so good that you could tell who was speaking by the way they were talking.

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