1 – Can you start by telling us a little about your current book?
I've got a one line pitch for it: A small English town is thrown into confusion when a mysterious contaminant leads people to believe the dead have returned to life. It's a ghost story, of sorts.
2 – Are you a plotter or a panster?
A 100% pantser plodding slowly towards plotter. When I was making it up as I went along, the first draft acted as a long synopsis from which I'd write the second draft. It's not a very efficient way to work. Now I make scene notes so I know where I'm going.
3 – Savoury or sweet?
Sweet, really, but trying to resist.
4 – Three books to a desert Island. Go!
Justine, Lawrence Durrell
To the Lighthouse, Virginia Woolf.
The Blue Room, Georges Simenon
5 – Star Wars or Star Trek?
Star Trek.
6 – If you could have any superpower, what would it be?
The resilience of my 28 year old self.
7 – Music or Silence when writing?
Silence. Once I start writing I tend to block everything else out.
8 – If you could live anywhere in the world, and take everything that you love with you, where would you choose?
I'd like to live in many places simultaneously. But Paris wins.
9 - Your favourite karaoke song?
They are all equal
10 – One piece of advice to an aspiring writer?
Read all you can.
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?
With the half left over, I'd buy an apartment in Vienna – and given the prices of places these days, it would be a small apartment.
The other half goes to the European Vegan society.
12 – Horror films, yes or no? If so, any favourites?
Not so much now (I binged on them in my late-teens/early twenties when they were still called video nasties). My favourite is The Orphanage (El orfanato, 2007). A terrifying film.
13 - What are you currently working on?
A book set in Vienna 1947. It's a spy thriller with supernatural elements. The Third Man meets Carlos Ruiz Zafón