“I'm certainly not the first author to tiptoe into the conspiratorial, ...” — Simon Toyne Quote

I'm certainly not the first author to tiptoe into the conspiratorial, religious-tinged territory, but - and I hate to break this to the faithful - neither is Dan Brown.

We have long suspected that the faceless organisations that run our world - be it the church, multinational conglomerates or the government - keep things from us.

My family and I live in a wing of a Georgian mansion in East Sussex, which was built in the 1780s and fell into disrepair. It was rescued in the Seventies and carved into six terrace houses.

I love Westerns. They're a unique creation of American mythology.

If you look at the great Westerns, and at Greek, Roman, and Norse mythology, they all contain elements in common: a harsh landscape; demons or outlaws trying to stop or kill the protagonist; and there are mythical legends at their core, innate in all cultures.

Like an author, a cricketer signs his name on every innings he bats or bowls in; indeed for every cricket ball that challenges him on the field.

The first lie of fiction is that the author gives some order to the chaos of life: chronological order, or whatever order the author chooses.

It's hard because people often don't recognise shyness; they think it's just someone being rude. I have had to work to overcome that, especially if I'm meeting my readers at author events, because I don't want them to think I'm snooty or rude.

Any author of fiction will tell you that characters don't need to be told what to do.