ABOUT ME

I grew up surrounded by books and possessed a natural love and respect for them. Fairy tales, adventure stories, comics, and each Christmas my cherished annuals, all of which rocketfuelled my imagination and taught me about the world I existed in, about plots and characters, morals and humour, and the essence of why people and situations were deemed to be good or bad, whether real or make believe.

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Every childhood moment was spent living out my stories and adventures. I invited monsters to live in my wardrobe, encouraged demons to skulk beneath my bed, ghosts to occupy dark corners, and witches to circle my house at night. I had firm friends, creations of my own, characters who never judged me, or abandoned me. They shared the joys and terrors which spanned my formative years and struggled with me through my teens. Today they live on in my stories.

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To be without a book in my bag or beside my bed is unthinkable. Books have come and gone, and the most cherished remain in their places of honour on my bookshelves, like old friends whose life stories are an integral part of my own. And it’s not just the pretty hardcovers or beloved collections, but rather the tatty ones, those whose pages have yellowed with age, worn and wrinkled by eager fingers, the odd mismatched ones which have travelled the course of my life, those with random cut-outs, photos, pressed flowers and snips of hair tucked between their pages.

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The first thing I recall writing was a spell for my Sindy doll, to enable her to have superpowers. Fascinated by the occult, I created a verse with rhyme and rhythm, and chanted and danced around my room with the full moon cascading through my bedroom window. My spell transported both Sindy and I into a dark world of magic and maniacs. Neither of us has yet emerged.

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Welcome to my world of imaginative quests, perilous adventures, profound mysteries and spirited journeys.

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Some of the many authors responsible for feeding my craving for adventure, terror, mystery and magic are Clive Barker, Frances Harding, Garth Nix, James Herbert, Juliette Marillier, Marcus Sedgwick, Peter V Brett, Phil Rickman, Stephen Leather and Alice Hoffman. I couldn't possibly list them all, but they live in my heart and on my bookshelves.