Over 150 published short stories is quite a record. Did you find changing from short
fiction to long fiction difficult? Which do you prefer?
Actually they seem to be mutually exclusive when it comes to writing them. I go through
phases of short story writing where I'll write a batch of them. But when a novel idea
takes hold, I don't write any short work until the novel is finished. I prefer the longer
medium now that I've written a couple and I'm no longer scared by the prospect of
writing 100000 words on one piece of work.
Tell us about your new vampire novel "Watchers of the Wall".. It sounds very
interesting. When will it be published? Is it horror or more of an adventure story?
"Watchers...." is book one of an adventure fantasy trilogy with patches of horror. In it I
have vampires coming from the Merovingian blood line, linking "The Holy Blood and
the Holy Grail" theory and the history of the Knights Templar with Scottish history and
having the Stuart dynasty being vampires.
I manage to turn everybody in Scotland into vamps and have Bonnie Prince Charlie, a
vamp himself, lead them into England in 1745. Think "ZULU" or "Last of the Mohicans"
with vamps and you'll get some idea of the style of it. All in all they're not suave, they're
not sophisticated and they're not clever. I love them!
The first two books are written and were originally due to be published in paperback by
Barclay Books in Florida, but non-North American authors were recently dropped from
the BB list, so they're back on the market. Anybody reading who wants to publish them,
please get in touch soon :)
I'm getting near the end of book 3, and I'll be sad to finish....it's been great fun.
Tell us about your other two books.
My novel "Island Life" is out now in paperback from Barclay Books. It is a horror story
set in the Outer Hebridean islands of Scotland. There are six people on a remote
island, and a whole load of big nasty monsters. You can guess the rest if you've ever
seen a monster movie! It's been picking up some great reviews, and it's a real thrill
knowing that there are real people reading and enjoying it.
