Spoken

On Tuesday 18th October 2007 I interviewed Miranda Glover at the top of Watersones Piccadilly, with it's magnificent views across London. She talked indepth about her research on twins, and has actually put some of it in her book "Soulmates", using one of her characters to bring it to life as a part of the story line. I very much enjoyed meeting Miranda and look forward to her next book.

Recently I had the great pleasure of meeting Adele Parks and chatting with her about her very successful career as a novelist. We went the length and breadth of her writing from Playing away to her current title Young Wive's Tales and all inbetween.

Adele was more than happy to talk about her influences and how she got started

I came across this little gem of a book "Tiny Terrors" in a very round about way and got to meet very new author CJ Lines who's novella "Lambkins" is the highlight ending of 5 very short horror/ghost stories in this pocket size book of 5 very different authors - Barry J House, Patricia Snodgrass, JP Catton, Rakie Keig and off course CJ Lines.

Not one for horror of any sort I was glad of the very gentle ghostly start in a church building and through 3 other stories up to the sting in the tale Lambkin.

CJ Lines leads you up the garden path quite literally giving you a false impression of everything is going to be O.K. Don't believe it for one minute - by not believing in ancient mythology our hero sleep walks his way into a terrible disaster.

Did I want more at the end - you bet! But what did CJ himself have to say about it

Having watched the Paris Dakar Rally for over a decade I was very keen to chat with Charley Boorman about his experiences. The book and accompanying DVDs gave a very exciting and fantastic account of what really happens behind the scenes at the Dakar Rally. What the DVD couldn't put in the book covered in depth very well.

When I met Charley I found a very warm caring person with a great sense of humour.

"Need to Know" is one of those books that gives you more than just and insight into the world of UFOs, Aliens and Mititary Intelligence.

I very much enjoyed meeting Timothy again after 16 years and doing catchup as well as talking about his latest book, but what really surprised me was just how cynical he was for one who is a dyed in the wool believer and as the rest of the world is equally as cynical he used only military intelligence to prove to us that there are aliens around - he is very convincing! I found his book both fascinating and enjoyable.

This is one of those interviews where you have to plan very carefully how to navigate M25 junctions and negotiate traffic not willing to move!

On September 20th 2006 the BFKbooks crew went to interview one of Fantasy's top authors - Raymond E.Feist about all aspects of his writing career - from the beginning, to the current day.

I was very pleasantly surprised to meet a very congenial man full of anecdotes with a sharp sense of awareness of ecology, human psychology and morality. All of which he effortlessly weaves into his books with the Fantasy genre being a perfect vehicle for his stories.

On Thursday 2nd October 2006 I went back to interview Ian Rankin about his book 'The Naming of the Dead' at Orion Publishers. I hadn't seen Ian since 1992 when I chatted to him about his very first Rebus novel 'Wolfman' later to be renamed 'Tooth and Nail'

As with Rebus he was a little older and much wiser but still retained his excellent sense of humour - Ivery much enjoyed doing catchup with Ian.

When I did my interview with Douglas Adams way back in 1992 to talk about all his books he'd written to date and not just The Hitchkikers Guide to the Galaxy trilogy I discovered a man who was way ahead of his time. He was concerned and fascinated by how Man was treating the world and all it's inhabitants and how he would treat aliens from another planet. His interest in artificial intelligence (A.I.) was quite profound and as a scifi/fantasy writer he found the perfect genre to put forward his thoughts and feelings. Hear just how avant guard he was.

Little did I know when I interviewed Ian Rankin all those years ago that his interview would seem as fresh today as it did then. I was lucky enough to meet him right at the very beginning of his career and Rebus was very embryonic. The one thing I do remember wasn't just how much detail went into his book but what a fun person Ian was. Did I enjoy the book - very much to say the least!

Mark Shand's books are always full of anecdotes to enjoy and how he ever gets from A to B on his very grumpy elephant is very illuminating. I found the book was written in such a way it was easy to visualise his journey on the Indian continent and the people he met.