My first degree was in Law. I had practiced as an attorney in South Africa for a few years before I moved to New Zealand and completed my post-graduate teaching diploma. All that was a far cry from my original dream of becoming a... philosopher. Only the threat of my parents disinheriting me stopped me from following that path. My favourite authors include the masters of the dark human psyche. I adore Dostoyevski, Joseph Conrad, JR Tolkien, Graham Greene, and Stephen King. I read all I could lay my hands on that was penned by Anne Rice and Ruth Rendell. I have gone through different genre-stages: when on heroic fantasy, I devoured David Gemmell; when on crime fiction, my favourite was PD James. I admire Margaret Atwood's ability to get me engaged in her characters' lives as if I did not have my own.