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Reading

I have always read. A lot.

Even before I could read, I read… My parents worked long hours – they were both up before dawn and often went to bed past midnight – so didn’t have time to read to my brother or I. Instead, they subscribed me to Story Teller magazine (Marshall Cavendish, 1982-85), a magazine and cassette combination that meant, before I could read, I could listen to stories and follow along with the words printed on the page.

Once I could read independently, I was so excited to get my own library card and explore my local library’s book collection. The only problem was that my reading age was by then too advanced for the books designated for my age group, which read as too young, almost babyish, for me. Whereas the books that did interest me exceeded my card’s age restrictions! One day, I tried to sneakily borrow an older book, but the librarian noticed and told me quite sternly to go back and pick another. I was so horrified with embarrassment I didn’t try again.

I of course had many favourite books. My absolute favourites were the Little House on the Prairie series by Laura Ingalls Wilder and The Worst Witch series by Jill Murphy. I also loved Earthstar Magic by Ruth Chew, The Sausage Is A Cunning Bird by Jennifer and Graeme Curry, Roald Dahl, Enid Blyton, a set of encyclopaedias my parents found for us, Pet Sematery by Stephen King, and chuckling along with Garfield. The encyclopaedias have long gone, but I still have the rest on my bookshelves!

When I was about eleven, I then went straight to reading classics, and became an insatiable reader. My parents took pity on me and subscribed me to The Great Writers Library (Marshall Cavendish 1986-1993). I still also have those! They look incredible in my bookcase and were of course even more incredible to read.

At school, and later at university, I then fell in love with the symbolism of medieval literature (Malory), the inventiveness of Augustan prose (Swift, Defoe, Richardson, Fielding), the imagination of 19th century speculative fiction (Verne, Shelley, Carroll, Wilde, Stephenson, Wells, Stoker), and the raw emotion of real-life autobiographies.

In my twenties, however, when I began to travel, it was the thrillers that kept me occupied on the planes, buses and trains. Their constant highs and lows made journeying times pass quickly.

Now I love escaping into all kinds of fiction – science fiction, fantasy, horror, contemporary drama, literary fiction, thrillers, autobiographies, and more!

Want me to name some titles? Okay, here you go – each one of the following has influenced my writing in some shape of form over the years (in order of publication date):

How many of these do you like yourself? Count them up and let me know!

Perhaps when you’re reading my stories, you might notice some of these early influences in my work.

Of course my work has also been highly influenced by watching and relishing countless movies and series over the years. Want to know which ones? There’s a list and more about my love of visual storytelling over here.

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