FAQ
Do you have an agent?
Nope, not yet. I'm currently querying my first novel with agents, and have four rejections so far (from eleven queries submitted.) There are 430 literary agents in the UK - I'm hopeful that 'the one' and I can find each other and live happily ever after. If not, I'll start on the US agents next...
Can I be your agent?
Yes please! Is it unseemly to beg?
Who are your influences?
I have eclectic tastes and I'm a bit of a magpie when it comes to influences. I have an English degree, so I love many of the classics (Jane Austen, George Eliot, Wilkie Collins, Fyodor Dostoevsky being particular favourites). For my favourite contemporary authors, see the next question.
Who are your favourite living authors?
This isn't an exhaustive list, but they include:
Kate Atkinson
CJ Sansom
Andrew Taylor
Sarah Waters
Rupert Thomson
Laura Shepherd-Robinson​
How do you feel about publicising your book?
I'd rather be flogged with a knotted rope than appear on radio or TV, so I hope such torments aren't an essential passport to publication.Â
At a push I could probably manage a podcast, if I were plied with sufficient alcohol (but then nervous verbal incontinence could be a problem).
If the audience could be persuaded not to throw things, I could maybe see myself participating in a panel discussion or book signing.
Are you available for weddings and bar mitzvahs?
No. See above. Please shoot me now.
What genres do you like to read?
I like literary novels that I can really lose myself in, but nothing so high brow that I can't get past the first 10 pages (sorry, Salman).
I'm a sucker for well written crime/suspense novels, especially - but not exclusively - those with a historical setting. E.g. An Instance of the Fingerpost, Quincunx, Imprimatur, The Name of the Rose, the Matthew Shardlake novels, the Marwood and Lovett novels.
I like novels with a historical setting, e.g. the Cicero trilogy by Robert Harris, the Thomas Cromwell trilogy by Hilary Mantel.
I don't read many horror/romance/sci-fi/fantasy novels (but I do like Neil Gaiman, David Mitchell and Philip Pullman).