Well… I spent probably twenty years intending to write a novel, but that darn thing called ‘life’ kept getting in the way. My career eventually took me to Edinburgh – to work at the zoo, of all places! When I finally tired of having meerkats outside the office and fielding endless media enquiries about the rumoured birth of a baby panda, I retreated to a quiet desk beside the Forth and dreamed up the Pantheon saga.
I couldn’t have done it without Edinburgh. Only such a dark, historical, claustrophobic place like the Old Town could have inspired crazy ideas about Hoplites on the rooftops and Vikings in the tunnels. Every time my storylines are struggling, I take myself back into the city and stand in the Closes off the Royal Mile, letting the atmosphere permeate my thoughts. I hope you enjoy.
