1: How did the last good book you read end up in your hands, and why did you read it?

2: What's the most overused word about your fiction?

3: What CD's are you listening to? Who are your favourite musicians?

4: What's the best cure for writer's block?

5: Who are your favourite heroes in fiction

6: Introduce one other author you think people should read, and suggest a good place to start.

7: Which literary character do you most identify with?

8: One book you wish you had written, and why.

9: Which painting, or other piece of art, best describes you?






1: How did the last good book you read end up in your hands, and why did you read it?

It was called 'Fighter Boys' by Patrick Bishop and is a factual account of the RAF pilots. It came into my hands by a very kind bookshop owner who asked me to 'pick any book' in the shop as a thank you. When this happens I always ask for the deluxe version of that huge and monstrously expensive Muhammad Ali book 'GOAT' which is about £3000. When this is refused I generally pick a paperback of some sort. I've always been an aviation nut, so that's why I chose this particular one. It's very good.

2: What's the most overused word about your fiction?

'Cult'. I'm often described as 'Cult author' or the TN books are a 'Cult series'. This word fits into the 'not sure what you really mean by that' category which also includes 'postmodernism' and 'genre transcendent'. I generally think of 'Cult' as being a group of people with a bizarre and possibly self-destructive level of obsessive ideology, and that doesn't describe people who read me. I prefer the term 'enthusiastic following' but it's less newsworthy and doesn't look so good on a bulleted heading. I don't like the word 'fan', either. The mailbox on my e-mail programme that might usually be labelled 'fanmail' I call 'chum mail'.

3: What CD's are you listening to? Who are your favourite musicians?

My taste in music is as broad as my tastes in story telling and really equates to what I think sounds good. iTunes on shuffle is a blast. I often hear 'Danse Macabre' followed by the Delfonic's 'Didn't I' and then 'Across the universe' followed by Gorillaz 19-2000 and Glenn Miller's 'Moonlight Serenade.' followed by Vivaldi's Lute and Mandolin concerto. All outstanding tracks, but for very different reasons.

4:What's the best cure for writer's block?

Writer's block doesn't exist. It's actually called 'work avoidance procrastination' It strikes all people, in all walks of life. We just give it a grand title to promulgate that 'tortured artist' nonsense.

5: Who are your favourite heroes in fiction?

Fishes out of water, generally. Anyone who is in a story and hopelessly out of their depth has a lot going for them.

6: Introduce one other author you think people should read, and suggest a good place to start.

P.G. Wodehouse, without a doubt. Funniest author writing in the English language. Pure joy and should be up there with Dickens, Austen, and Shakespeare. Begin with 'Summer Lightning' and life will never be the same again.

7: Which literary character do you most identify with?

No idea. A mixture of Alain Quartermain and Biggles, I'd like to think.

8: One book you wish you had written, and why.

'The Little Prince' by Antoine de St Exupery. A delightful allegory full of wonderful characters, pathos, extraordinary imagery and concepts of such comic simplicity that one stands awe-struck at their creation. The rose, the baobabs, the volcanos, the planet, the lamplighter...

9:Which painting, or other piece of art, best describes you?

'Lizards' by MC Esher. The two dimensional lizard pulls itself from the picture, gains 3-D solidity, climbs a set-square to the top of a dodecahedron, pauses to look at its surroundings and then returns to its flat existence. I loved the concept the moment I saw it - to me it represents an escape from the flat humdrum world, even for a moment. Storytelling is like that. In books we take the flat text, transform it momentarily into a vibrant three dimensional world, enjoy it and then leave it back on the bookshelf ready for the next person. I painted them on my car. It looks a bit odd but I like it.



Click here to go back to Questionarium