Why do I write. Good question and one without a really adequate respone. I write because I have to; it is a compulsion. I often think that writing should carry a govenment health warning, like cigarettes. It is probably as difficult to give up once you start. I suppose I write because I love to read and love the act of storytelling and because there is always another tale waiting to be told. As a child, my second home was our local library and I read anything I could lay hands on. A major influence though, was Yellow Books - the Gollancz publications in their bright yellow jackets. Our librarian pointed them out to me - she shelved them all together, regardless of subject - and I discovered crime, science fiction, the short stories of Guy deMaupassant, Daphne du Maurier...Magic.

I am currently a Royal Literary Fund Fellow at DeMontfort University in Leicester