1 – Can you start by telling us a little about your current book?
I'm a very slow writer, and my latest published book - The Last Days of Leda Grey - came out in 2017 and was selected as The Sunday Times Historical Novel of the Month. The previous three titles are all Victorian gothics, but Leda is a story based in the Edwardian era, with a second narrative strand in the more recent 1970's. I found the telling of Leda's story to be such an eerie immersive experience as I followed her childhood in her father's Brighton photography studio, and then her own career as a star of the silent screen. The novel is a love story inspired by early European film noirs, filled with magic, illusion, and fantasy. But it's also a classic ghost story set in a haunted clifftop house. Mixing up those themes was a novelist's delight.
As for my current book, that is yet to be officially announced so I'd better not say too much ... but it's coming out next year, and it's set in the worlds of Victorian showgrounds, anatomy museums, and the theatre of Drury Lane. I absolutely loved writing this novel which encompasses the darkness of medical science and the entertainment world, and how those worlds sometimes collide.
2 – Are you a plotter or a panster?
Definitely a panster. I usually have an idea of the beginning and end of a story, and who the main characters will be. But, when it comes to what's in-between, that's as much a mystery to me as it is to the readers of my books. I enjoy the way a story develops, almost with a mind of its own.
3 – Savoury or sweet?
Both. So long as there is a lot of flavour, I'm happy.
4 – Three books to take a desert Island. Go!
The Bible. I would like to have the time to read it in full one day.
Robinson Crusoe. I might learn a few tricks for survival
The latest one I'm writing - along with a paper, pencils, and sharpener - if that's not a cheat answer.
5 – Star Wars or Star Trek?
Neither. But if we're choosing Sci fi I would like the Alien franchise films.
6 – If you could have any superpower, what would it be?
Living beyond one lifetime. There are so many things I would still like to do and achieve. That's why I like writing too - which is a superpower all its own, in which a writer lives different lives and visits other times as they're created on a page.
7 – Music or Silence when writing?
Silence. Sometimes I choose a soundtrack when a novel's finished.
8 – If you could live anywhere in the world, and take everything that you love with you, where would you choose?
Venice.
9 - Your favourite karaoke song?
I have a few, and they all make me want to dance as well as sing. Hey Ya! by Outkast - with all the shaking it like a polaroid picture. Daft Punk's Get Lucky, featuring Pharrell Williams and Nile Rogers. Love, love, love it. OR, Pharrell William's Happy. Hard for me to choose between those last two, as they both fill me with such joy. And then, there is Metronomy's The Look which feels very nostalgic, and reminds me of my younger teenage self.
10 – One piece of advice to an aspiring writer?
Read, read, read. Become familiar with all the best books related to your own genre of writing interest, but don't stop there. We learn from good literature in so many ways. Characterisation, and various ways of showing rather than telling. The construction of plot. The drive of a narrative. The way themes are developed.
11 – You win £1 million, but you must give half to charity. Which charity do you chose, and what do you do with the rest of the money?
At the risk of being too political, at this moment in time I would give it all to the victims of the despicable war in Ukraine.
12 – Horror films, yes or no? If so, any favourites?
Yes! Some all-time favourites are The Cabinet of Doctor Caligari. The Haunting (1963 version, directed by Robert Wise). Jacob's Ladder. Coppola's Dracula. The Devil's Backbone, directed by Guillermo del Toro. Kubrick's The Shining. I would also mention the Alien films again.
13 - What are you currently working on?
I'm working on a historical crime thriller with allusions to some famous horror stories from the past. I won't say any more for now as I always feel it jinxes a novel to speak of it too soon.