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Interview With Author of We Are Monsters M.J. Dyer

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Where did the idea for the book come from?

So, about a year or so before I started writing this book, I had an illness which caused brain inflammation and had me hallucinating and having very vivid dreams. One night, I dreamed of these three young women’s faces—all were very beautiful, with long dark hair and alabaster skin, and two of the women were identical. The third seemed a bit more on the periphery, and there was anger in her eyes. 

This dream stayed with me for a while—particularly, as I felt like these women were looking right at me. I can’t remember if they did anything in the dream, or what the context was, but I remembered their faces. 

And then, much later, and after I’d started treatment for my brain illness, I was visiting a charity shop and looking through a donated photo album. I turned the page and there was a photo of these three women. It really made me freeze, because it looked exactly like them. Two identical twins and another who looked very similar, maybe a sister. 

It freaked me out and I left quickly, without the photo album. Yet I couldn’t stop thinking about the women—and I felt almost haunted. When I went back to buy the photo album, it had gone. But I just knew that I needed to ‘spend more time’ with these sisters, and so I began writing.

I love books about sibling rivalry. Do you have siblings!

I do, yes, and I’m quick to say that the experiences in We Are Monsters are not based on real life! I think sibling rivalry is such a fascinating thing to write about as so many people are able to relate.

Dark academia is a popular genre and going nowhere. Why do you think it resonates so much with readers?

I think there’s a strong aesthetic appeal with dark academia—the crumbling Gothic architecture, the isolated landscapes, and the powerful institutions that are never quite as they seem. Tradition is also something that’s seeped into the plot and it can be both a good and a bad thing, which gives so many possibilities to explore. There’s also quite a melancholic atmosphere that comes with dark academia, and it’s also the perfect setting for stories about rivalry as academic competition is often at its heart. The characters are also very much contained within the landscape, often unable to leave or go anywhere else, and there’s something quite frightening about that which also makes it an ideal place to set a psychological thriller. 

Dark academia settings are also very much romanticised by a lot of readers. This genre represents passion for knowledge and desire to know the truth, while also immersing yourself really deeply in one aspect of life. Intellectualism is often at the heart of these stories, along with appreciation for education and the arts, and this is something that We Are Monsters really draws on: Elara is an art student living on an isolated university campus on Bodmin moor. She’s fascinated by what art can say about the human condition and what it means to be human, particularly in situations that bring out rivalry and (deadly) competition.

What is your writing routine?

The more books I write, the more I realise I just don’t have a set routine. Each book comes to me differently, and each book is written in its own individual way. But the thing that I have in common with them all is that I do very little planning. I just start writing and see what happens, and I love it when I get lost in a story and suddenly realise that hours have passed and the words have just been flowing beautifully.

I also love to hand write a lot of my drafts as I have limited vision and I find handwriting easier than typing. Luckily, I have a Remarkable Tablet which then converts my handwriting into text, which makes rewrites and editing so much easier!

What is your favourite part of being a writer?

It’s the ideas. I love getting lost in ideas and what-if scenarios. I process a lot of my own experiences through writing, and it helps me understand who I am. There’s something so satisfying about delving into the psyches of characters and becoming immersed in a story in the process. 

And the worst part?

I’m one of those writers who works on about five or six different manuscripts at a time. I write under several pen names, across several genres, and I dip in and out of different stories several times a day when it is a ‘writing day’. This can be so overwhelming at times, and I often panic about it. I also often wish I was more organised and just focused on one story at a time, as then I’d get them written so much quicker! 

What would you like readers to know about you?

I am a chronically ill writer, and I think it’s important to share my ‘reality’ with readers where I can. There’s often a tendency to put writers on a pedestal and think of them as these whimsical little creatures who have fun being creative all day, but I do have to treat this as a job (and it is my income!). My physical health limits what else I can do, but writing is my one constant, and it’s honestly all I’ve ever wanted to do. But I don’t—can’t—write every day. My health dictates a lot of it. I’m often writing while in hospital, dictating into my phone when my fingers are too painful, and wishing that I was well enough to write just another chapter rather than needing to rest. But when I finish a manuscript, it’s such a proud moment.

Who are your favourite authors?

I am a massive fan of Mary Kubica, Dawn Kurtagich, C.L. Taylor, Helen Oyeyemi, Susannah Clarke, Lucy Rose, Shanora Williams, Rebecca Wait, Coco Mellors, and Nova Ren Suma. I will read any books they release!

Did you always want to be a writer?

Yes! Some of my earliest memories are of me creating stories with my parents. I come from a creative family that really encouraged my imagination, and right from the start, I wanted to be a writer. As I got older, I was told by teachers I’d need to do something more practical with a guaranteed income (one even suggested I become a carpet fitter, which was…odd), but writing remained my goal. 

I was a teenager when my autonomic system failed, followed by decades of health problems, and writing was the one thing that gave me an escape. My illnesses then made me more determined to be a writer, as it was a job I could still do. I’d just need to find a way to make it into an income. 

I began writing under a couple of different pen names, and I was lucky enough to get my first book deal when I was nineteen, followed by my first literary agent a little while later. Since then, I’ve spent a lot of time learning about the business-side of writing to ensure that I can keep doing what I love and making it into a full-time job.

What books have you read recently and loved?  

I absolutely adored Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke and White is For Witching by Helen Oyeyemi. These are definitely top reads of 2026 for me!

http://www.madelinedyer.co.uk/

Greg Mosse Interview: On Writing, Trilogies, A.I. and Kate. 

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One of the best things about being editor-in-chief of Frost Magazine is all of the people I get to meet. Having a chat with a writer I admire is also exciting for my other life as an author. Greg Mosse is a great interviewee. Candid, kind, and bursting with interesting information. I read The Coming Darkness in 2022 and loved how unique it was. It is a great thriller. Now, the third in the trilogy, The Coming Fire, is out. I interviewed him over Zoom to talk all things writing, A.I., and Kate.  

Greg complimented my children’s artwork on the fridge, and I complimented his impressive book posters. 

On the impermanence of theatre and writing during lockdown: ‘The posters on the wall, most of them are mementos of my theatre work, because theatre is a wonderful fugitive experience. It’s that brilliant moment shared by the audience live in the room together that can never be repeated, but at the end of a run of theatre, for most shows it’s gone forever. And unless you’re in Les Mis or something like that, and it doesn’t stop, it’s great to have the poster on the wall as a reminder of, ‘Oh yes, I did that.’ 

The rhythm of my life under coronavirus lockdowns changed completely. In one way, because theatre had become illegal, and so there was really no point in writing new plays for I didn’t know how long, but in another way, it didn’t change at all. It just meant that I sat in the corner of my study, there with my red blanket, because it was March, wasn’t it? It was cold at first, and then it got really hot. It just changed from writing dialogue to writing prose and that’s why, in the centre of the wall of posters behind me, are all the novels I’ve published.’ 

That was a smart thing to do. Yes, but remember, we were utterly unemployed, weren’t we? We had to fill our days and I did find it very easy to be productive, because I was utterly without distractions.

As the lockdown started, I actually went and I picked up both of our children. My wife, Kate Mosse, and I. Felix was working in Norwich. He was on stage in a show that shut, and Martha was living in North London in a flat in a block, and we thought both of those circumstances would be a less pleasant way of being locked down than in our house in Sussex with fields that you could walk out to and all of those lucky things that we had, but that said, you know, they’re grown-ups, so it’s not like I brought them home and had to look after them. So I had not limitless time, but I had a lack of distractions, which really taught me how valuable that can be in terms of working quickly, but not necessarily efficiently. 

On writing a trilogy: For The Coming Darkness, the first book in the Alex Lamarque trilogy, I wrote 170,000 words from which ultimately I cut 70,000 words because the thriller that MoonfFlower, my brilliant publisher wanted, was just under 100,000 words. However, when The Coming Darkness went very well, I got excellent reviews for which I’m very grateful. It meant that I had these subplots I cut from the first draft that were the heart of the second book, The Coming Storm. That also accelerated the process. So it wasn’t like I had to sort of start again. My hero, who’s like an action hero, a member of the French secret services. He wins at the end of The Coming Darkness, but he only wins a fragment of the battle that he’s engaged in. But I already had the heart of The Coming Storm already on the page. It had to be massaged into a different shape, a different timeline, but it already existed. The future, historical background to the book that I researched by reading lots of scientific papers and government papers and NGOs and everybody who’s predicting the future, trying to plan for what’s coming next. Five years, 10 years, 15 years, a generation. All of those notes were super valuable over the whole of the trilogy, and the things that we’re worried about today in 2037 are more urgent, more dramatic, more desperate, but they are the same things, but more so.

The Coming Fire is the culmination of a trilogy about a time when everything that we’re worried about today is more intensely felt and more intruding, more fully on people’s lives. So that meant I’ve already got a crescendo that can play out over three books, and then the other way of describing it. The further Alex goes towards the heart of this terrorist mystery, the closer he gets to the biggest, hardest enemy to defeat. There’s an overall shape that you know you’re writing into. I sometimes describe it as pouring creativity into a pre-existing shape, yet not just writing to find the shape, but the shapes already there in the back of my mind.

On authors being pigeonholed: As a writer for theatre, nobody says to you, “You know, last year, you wrote a play about smugglers, set in 1749. Why are you now writing a play about the First World War?” Whereas, as a novel writer, people say that to you all the time. Being able to write in these different voices, to tune into a different quality of creativity, is really normal for a playwright and to write dialogue in different voices. One day a king, another day a minor living 300 years later, another day a 12-year-old child living today, is totally normal. Now, the other part of your question, which one do I like best, writing plays or books? The great thing is that they refresh one another. You know what I was just saying about playwriting? That’s one of the best things about writing plays. So a full-length, two-hour play is about 20,000 words, whereas The Coming Fire is 98,000, I think. So a full-length, two-hour play is a fifth of a novel. So it’s more difficult to get that refreshing change in novel writing because the scale of the creative enterprise is so much bigger. If you have sympathetic publishers who understand that you’ve got these different goals, entertaining people in different ways, that’s what it’s about. They really bounce off each other super well. 

On his writing routine: It’s 6:30 till 10:30 more or less every day. When I say every day, it’s like six days out of seven. Sometimes I’m travelling for other parts of my life. And so it can’t happen if I’m driving to London in the morning for the work I do in theatre, for example. But about six days out of seven. 6:30 to 10:30. In that time I’d expect to write a couple of 1,000 words. I’d expect it to begin with a two. Doing that for six weeks of six days a week, 2,000 words a day that’s 72,000 words, isn’t it? And once I’ve got to sort of that, I’ve actually got an unpublished novel in my computer over there that I’ve written about 65,000 words of, and I’m currently editing it because I’ve got an idea of how it will end, like a framework for how it will end, but in order to write the last quarter of the book, I need to make sure everything in the first three quarters ties up and is completely coherent, and that I’ve probably been writing for about six weeks and now it’s going to go really slowly for a week or 10 days, maybe because I’m reviewing everything, and I have to keep going backwards and forwards, you know, to tie things together. And I’ll find a thing on page 102 and God, where was that, although I referenced that. And then there it is on page 17. And all of that over and over and over again. And only once I’ve got all of that done, probably through the whole of those 65,000 words twice. Only then will I write the last quarter of the book. And then, of course, I’ll have to check it from line one to the last line again to make sure I’ve got it all right. So that means about 10 weeks in total for a draft that I am willing to show one person alone, and that person is my wife, Kate Mosse, [Most people would be scared to give Kate Mosse the first draft of their novel] yeah, probably. But, you know, there she is. She’s having a cup of tea in the morning, eating her Marmite on toast, and she’s trapped. You know, there’s nothing she can do.

I was asked this weekend, as I usually am at some point at festivals, ‘Greg’, was it helpful at all to be married to the international best-selling novelist Kate Mosse?’ And I always say she is the wave that I surf.

On supporting other writers: When Twitter was invented, before it became a cesspool of bots and hatred, it is I chose as my Twitter description, ‘writer and encourager of writers.’ Back then, almost all of my writing was theatre, of course, and that’s changed, but the encourager of writers hasn’t. It’s the reason why, with my son Felix Mosse, we run a theatre script development programme at the Criterion Theatre, Piccadilly Circus, which is free to the mid-career playwrights who take part. And then when I’m at a festival, like Harrogate, or in the new year, Kate and I will be in Jaipur, and then Dubai, at the Emirates Festival, the majority of my time there will actually be spent with readers and writers, aspirant writers, trying to help them develop their plots, understand the business. You know, all of that stuff. And that’s super rewarding.

His thoughts on A.I: My thoughts on A.I., what I wanted to put on stage in The Coming Fire was the fact that the terrorists, the big, bad, evil presence behind the whole of the trilogy, has a view on A.I. that you and I and many people probably share, which is that it’s an enormous danger, and there are two parts to this danger. There is a relinquishing of humanity, and thinking that A.I. is probably as good as the ways in which humans have evolved, in doing things over a gazillion years over evolution, and then recorded history.

And then the other part of it is that relates to the creative arts. There’s a brilliant, I think it’s in an Arthur C. Clarke science fiction story from many years ago, where he compares a flawless reproduction of a piano to a real piano. And he says it’s like the difference between being told that you’re loved and being held in your parents’ embrace. It’s great. It may not be a quotation, but it’s something like that, right? You know what I mean there, there is a difference that feels elusive, but it’s also really substantial.

Yes. So then the other part of it is the fact that, and we’ve seen this all through the technological age, technologies respond in ways that we don’t predict. There’s always a law of unintended consequences. There’s always unfortunate outcomes, even with the best of intentions. My brother, who has a sardonic cast of mind, sometimes says to me, no good deed ever goes unpunished, and you want, but people who are, I would argue, unthinkingly embracing technology, assume the best, whereas I’m a much more precautionary cast of mind. You never know where this will end up. So coming back to the big baddie in The Coming Fire.

He wants to set back Earth’s technological development by a few generations. He wants to destroy the hyper-connected world, the global village, and fragment and atomise human populations. Now, of course, that also means that he’s a completely inhumane barbarian,

utterly insensible to human tragedy and loss of life. Those things are meaningless to him because he has this conceptual idea of turning back the technological human clock,

and a thing that he can’t see is the inhumanity of the A.I. that he wants to exploit in order to achieve those terrible goals is actually super similar to his own cast of mind, and that’s why Alex must stop him.

Well, it’s the third part of a trilogy. There is a hero. Usually, the hero wins, but of course, it would be a spoiler to say if he does. I have a friend who’s a neuroscientist who works at the University of Sussex, with whom I was talking quite recently about the fact that he gets infuriated when he’s told that artificial intelligence has discovered or devised something. And he says there is no artificial intelligence. What there is is an algorithm that analyses statistical probabilities and comes up with likely scenarios from which it can choose one. But it’s not intelligence. It’s a sifting of data to find the most likely average outcome. 

Thank you Greg. 

The Coming Fire is out now and published by Moonflower. 

What I Want Querying Writers To Know. On Finding a Literary Agent

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My journey to become Catherine Yardley, author, was a tough one. It’s a known fact that writing is hard. Yes, the actual writing part can be tedious, but those who decide to go the traditional route quickly find out that writing the book was the easy part. The next part is getting a literary agent. The gatekeeper to a publishing deal. Finishing a book is a huge accomplishment in itself. When so much work goes into something, you want it to pay off. I had previously written non-fiction, and when the time came to try and get it published, I bought a copy of The Writer’s and Artist’s Yearbook.
It’s embarrassing to admit now, but I thought the whole get-an-agent-thing seemed exhausting. I was already exhausted from writing the bloody book! So I did a ton of research and went straight to publishers. Even more shockingly, all the editors replied, and the book went to acquisitions. Everyone was so nice and supportive. This was in 2013. You would probably get blacklisted emailing your book to editors nowadays.
I first queried my first fiction book, Ember, in 2020. It was a turbulent time in everyone’s life, and I wanted something good to happen. Yet I did not think for one second I would get an agent. Every rejection was confirmation of my belief that the book wasn’t good enough. This was just my first novel, I told myself. I will write more and query them too. In fact, I had two books: Ember and Where The Light is Hottest. I didn’t think the latter was ready yet. It took me six years to write both books simultaneously. I recommend having more than one book because an agent might like your writing but not the book you are querying. So, the first time was hard, but I wasn’t expecting success. 2020 was an incredibly traumatic year for me, and I was just trying to survive. In the end, I got two full requests from agents, signed with an agent, and also got offered two book deals. All good. Ember came out in March 2022 and did well. My agent was lovely, but we ended up parting ways.
Which brings me to what I want every querying writer to know: other than losing a loved one or a traumatic event, querying was the worst thing for my mental health. The constant rejections, the full requests that might lead to all of your dreams coming true. It’s a rollercoaster of pain and elation. I got a full request immediately. Then another. Still, it took an entire year for me to sign with a new agent. I was relentless. For every rejection, I send another three queries out. I want writers to understand the physical and emotional toll querying takes on you. It is a hard thing to go through. I believe querying is harder than ever. Publishing is slow at the moment, so agents are being cautious about what they take on. The day I cancelled my premium querytracker subscription (a site with all of the agents on which lets you directly submit to them) was a brilliant one. Take care of yourself. Join up with other querying writers. Take regular mental health breaks. Know that it can happen at any moment. It only takes one yes. More than anything, know that going after your dreams is hard and you are brave.

Keep at it. You will get there too. Just keep writing those books.


Where The Light is Hottest came out end of February and I Ember is also available here.

Becoming an Author Takes a Huge Amount of Talent. We Deserve Better Than AI and Piracy.

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Last week, thanks to a fantastic article in The Atlantic, I found out that one of my books had been taken from a piracy site and used by Meta to train their AI. Seeing your book on a piracy site hurts a lot. It takes years to write a book. There is a huge amount of sacrifice. Of sleep, time spend with loves ones, and time spent with Netflix. Querying is hard and tough on your mental health. After all of that, your book can then die on submission. Then you have to write another book and start the whole thing from the beginning.

Where The Light is Hottest, Catherine Yardley, Balavage

Authors do not earn a lot of money. At last count the average was seven thousand pounds a year. If you worked out the hours we put in, it is below minimum wage. You have to really love it to be an author. The highs are liking nothing on earth and the lows are crushing.

@balavage It is hard being an author. I know this is a bit of a rant but please bare with me. Leave your comments below. #booktok#writertok#authortok#writingcommunity#authorscommunity#writing#publishing♬ original sound – Catherine Balavage Yardley

Being an author is as hard as any other career. Yes, it has a huge amount of benefits. Working from home, being creative and seeing your work out there in the world. But the work can be tedious. Reading the same book multiple times. Editing it so many times that you want to give up. Then you market it while writing your next one. It is the dream, it really is. Don’t get me wrong, but there is a lot of work involved. If you cannot afford books you can go to the library. Authors get paid when you borrow our books. There is also the Libby library app if you are not near a library. My two books, Where The Light is Hottest and Ember are both on kindle unlimited. I hate to be downer and I know how lucky I am. I feel privileged and happy every day, but please stop stealing our work. Especially if you are a trillion dollar company. We can only write if our books sell. Publishers will not give us contracts if they think we have no readers. Publishing is a business like no other. It is all about the bottom line. Thank you. Please share any comments below.

My Publishing Journey by Anna Britton

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One of the things I like to talk about (within the context of writing, at least!) is rejection. Simply because my publishing journey is chock-full of it! And the more authors I chat to (and I talk to them a lot on my podcast, The Rejected Writers’ Club) the more I realise that all of us face rejection all the time. Talking about it normalises and neutralises it – it’s not something to fear or be ashamed of, but it’s something to be embraced as part of the writing life.

The first kind of rejection I faced was self-rejection. I have always wanted to be a writer, but every time I managed to write something I would read it back and be appalled at how awful it was. Every attempt ended up in the bin.

But then my father-in-law died suddenly at the age of 56. He was a lovely man who I wish I’d had longer to know. His death taught me that we may not get as much time as we think we will, so if there is something we want to do, we need to hecking well get on with it.

From then on, I didn’t let myself reject myself (can you tell I’m a writer?!). I still thought (and think) my first drafts were awful, but I no longer let that stop me. I love telling stories and even if they don’t come out right straight away, that’s okay. That’s what editing is for.

Rejection then came from other people. I submitted my first novel to 113 agents and received 113 rejections. There were a couple of full requests in there, but they all ended in the same way. No one wanted that story.

So I wrote another one. And another one. And another one.

I didn’t query quite as hard again – mainly because I am soft and squishy and couldn’t handle such a solid wall of no’s again – but I did make sure to send my stories out to people I thought would connect with them. I got a whole load more rejections, until one person said yes.

Now, I want to pause here and say something that I absolutely didn’t listen to but that I really hope you will if you’re a writer looking for an agent and (let’s be honest, we all are) feeling a bit desperate: having no agent is better than having one who doesn’t get you. I promise this is true.

I signed with an agent and there was absolutely nothing wrong with them as a person, but they weren’t the right fit for me and my stories. I was writing gentle YA while they wanted something plotty and loud.

Parting ways with my first agent was one of the most painful moments of my publishing journey. I see it as a rejection, as it was a split that they initiated, but it was the right decision. I couldn’t see that at the time, but looking back I can see that we weren’t the right fit at all.

I was totally gutted by this, but it didn’t change my dream; to be a published author. I ditched the stories I had been working on and dove into edits on a crime novel with a bi detective with PTSD at its heart, fell in love with her cold and confusing partner, and solved a murder. I sent this story (which would eventually become the first in the Martin and Stern series – Shot in the Dark) out into the world and I was blown away by the response. Relatively quickly, I signed with my lovely agent – Saskia Leach at Kate Nash Literary Agency – and signed a three-book deal with Canelo Crime.

It was a whirlwind, especially coming off the back of such a mountain of rejection. And that rejection doesn’t leave you. The sting has lessened over time and I’m not quite so afraid of opening my inbox anymore, but the years of hearing no again and again don’t magically disappear just because I can go point at my book in my local Waterstones.

Those years of rejection taught me resilience. They taught me to be sure of the stories I want to tell and to make sure I’ve got people on my team who have the same vision. They taught me that sometimes I’m going to have to fight for my stories and that sometimes I will fail, but that I will write another story and try again.

My journey to publication was long and winding and painful, but it was 100% worth it in the end. And not just because I have two (two!) books published, but because I’ve carved out a space in the world for my stories. I spend time doing something I utterly love. I’ve met incredible people along the way and have had so much more fun than sadness.

Anna’s website is here and you can buy her books at Waterstones.

Interview With I.S. Berry Author, The Peacock and the Sparrow

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Did you always want to be a CIA agent?

Not at all. I wanted to be a writer! But I studied at London School of Economics in college, and fell in love with living abroad and foreign affairs. It was the 1990s and communism had collapsed, which was a fascinating time to be in Europe. After I graduated, I edited a newspaper in Prague, then worked as an intelligence analyst for the U.S. government in Cambridge, England, shuttling back and forth to the Balkans. I found I was passionate about intelligence work, so I applied to the CIA. While waiting for my application to process, I attended law school and studied international law. 9/11 happened while I was in law school, and I felt grateful I was on a job track that would serve my country.

When did you realise you wanted to be a writer?

For as long as I can remember! I’ve always loved books and words. My adolescence and young adulthood are littered with failed attempts at novels. While traveling Europe in my twenties – exploring, trying to figure out who I was – I remember musing in my journal that, while I’d probably follow a more practical career path, my secret dream was to be a writer. But it wasn’t until I’d worked as a spy that I had something really meaningful to write about, that it all came together.

What do you think is behind the world’s fascination with the CIA and the world of spies?

The secrecy, I think. Espionage is an entire world beneath the surface, a netherworld. And spying is a profession of high stakes, where lives and geopolitics – the fate of both people and nations – are on the line. Also, espionage involves inherently colorful characters – people willing to commit the ultimate betrayal.

Your characters are so vivid. Do you base them on real people?

My characters are mostly composites, except for the station chief, who was inspired by a real person. Also, the expat community is based on real people, and much of the dialogue is taken verbatim from actual conversations.

Can you describe your writing routine. 

I try to go for a three-mile run each morning. Then I either go to my local coffeeshop or set up camp in my study and write for a few hours. I can’t write too much without printing out and editing, because things read differently to me on paper, and I need to get the story right before I proceed too far.

The book is negative about the CIA. Where you disillusioned?

A bit. I joined the Agency a few months after 9/11, and it was a time of transition and, at times, chaos. My first tour, as a counterterrorist case office in Baghdad during the apex of the war (fall 2004 to fall 2005), was challenging: we weren’t making much progress, the work environment was stressful, and most of us – myself included – returned with PTSD. I made decisions in a fog of war and espionage that haunted me and carried their own trauma. The fundamental skill required for the job – manipulating people – never sat easily with me. Now, years later, with the dust settled, I have a softer view of that time. I wouldn’t say my book paints the CIA in a negative light so much as it paints espionage in a negative light. For me, spying was an uncomfortable, debilitating profession, and that’s what I wanted to convey.

What are your thoughts on the CIA now. Did you find writing the book healing?

I think the CIA has made a lot of progress. The war on terror is over, and the Agency has had time to take a breath, evaluate its operations and internal culture. It’s more introspective and self-critical now. When I was there, the Agency was a bit of an old boys network. Since then, the “Me Too” movement has had an impact: there are rules about and awareness of sexual harassment; female officers speak up about inappropriate treatment; and women fill more leadership positions. I do think writing my book was cathartic. When I finished, I realized how many of my ghosts had come out on the pages. They’re still with me, but now I can better articulate and make sense of them.

The book is unflinchingly honest and brave. Did you ever have a moment of doubt about putting your heart and soul on the page?

Thank you! Yes – though more so after my book was published. I wrote my manuscript in a vacuum (CIA rules prohibit me from showing my writing to anyone until it’s been cleared), so I didn’t even think about getting my story out in the world at the time. Exposing my inner turmoil was still an abstraction. Once I was published, I realized that now everyone could see my scars and the effect espionage had on me. But so many former intelligence officers have found my book resonant, I’ve felt more reward than apprehension in telling this story.

Joseph Weisberg, creator of the TV series The Americans, called your book the “the most realistic espionage story I’ve read.” How did that feel, and do you agree?

Well, I haven’t read all the spy novels out there, so I feel unqualified to judge! But I take Joe’s blurb as a huge compliment, and was honored to get such an amazing endorsement from the creator of a masterful, iconic series. I do think many spy novels skew toward the sensational – car chases, roof scaling – and mine is based more on my own experiences, and the tradecraft and operations I conducted. Also, tradecraft is fundamentally psychological, not technological or gadget-based, and I think my story reflects this. Above all, I wanted to convey a visceral sense of espionage, and insiders tell me I’ve succeeded at that.

What books, films and TV shows get the spy world right?

For film, Beirut, Spy Game, and Ghosts of Beirut are some of my favorites. For novels, Graham Greene’s The Quiet American and most of le Carré books (The Little Drummer Girl is my favorite) – all written years ago, but, in the most important ways, as authentic today as they were then.

It’s nice to have a female voice in the world of spy novelists. Do you think you’ve paved the way for more?

I hope so! It’s shocking to me how few female spy novelists there are (though, we’re out there – I’m in good company with Merle Nygate and Alma Katsu, to name a few).

What’s next?

Another spy novel! This time, a female protagonist. It’s about the intersection of spying and writing…and I think that’s all I can say for now!

Interviewing I.S. Berry was both a pleasure and a privilege. You can read my review of her stunning novel, which was named as the The Times thriller of the year, here. You can buy The Peacock and the Sparrow here. I.S Berry’s website is a great resources and her socials are below.

Buy now – Simon & Schuster Web: isberry.net X: @isberryauthor IG: @isberryauthor

Interview With The Commuter Author Emma Curtis

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I finished reading The Commuter in a day. I raced through it. It’s a brilliant domestic thriller which had me hooked from the very first page. Here’s my interview with Emma.

The Commuter is your seventh novel. How does that feel? It’s a huge achievement.

It feels like a huge achievement! I started writing, submitting and getting rejections when I was in my late twenties, found an agent in my late forties and published my debut when I was fifty, so I definitely put the work in. I still sometimes pinch myself. 

Does the writing get easier?

I think the writing does, the editing doesn’t. It’s a long hard slog full of dead ends, frustrations and moments when I want to run away from it all. But when it’s finally signed off the satisfaction is huge. Writing the first draft is such a pleasure. If only the first draft was the last!

Where did the idea for come from?

I’ve lived in London and used the tube all my life and I’ve always enjoyed the free newspapers. The Rush Hour Crush feature in the Metro is so intriguing. When I was a teenager I used to look for Mr Darcys, now I scan faces and wonder what I’d write if I fancied someone. No one so far! It seemed like there could be a thriller in there somewhere.

What is your writing routine?

I get up early, ideally around 6am, have breakfast and start work. Then I work fairly solidly until twelve, have lunch and go for a long walk to mull over what I’ve done and set up the next chapter for the next morning. I like routine and deadlines and I’m not very flexible. But it gets things done.

Do you have a favourite novel that you have written?

Yes, my favourite is Keep Her Quiet which came out in 2020. One of the protagonists is an arrogant male author. I loved writing him!

What books have you read recently that you loved?

The Paper Palace by Miranda Cowley-Heller. I recommend it to anyone who asks me what to read next.

Do you have any favourite authors?

Loads! JP Delaney for quirky concept thrillers. Stephen King for lessons in story-telling. Celeste Ng is fantastic for family based noir. Robert Galbraith because I adore Cormoran Strike and need to know what happens between him and Robin. I like American literature too. AM Homes is a favourite. I wish Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie would publish another novel!

How did you get published?

Since it took me such a long time, that is a very good question. I had given up for a few years, then my oldest child went off to University and I felt like I had to have another go. I wrote two novels, both rejected, then started writing short stories and entering them in online competitions. These did well. I had about a 25% hit rate of first, second and third prizes and those gave me credibility in the eyes of agents. I needed that because I had zero connection to the publishing industry. I turned one of the prize winning stories into a novel and this time, instead of sending it out to a handful of agents, getting rejections and losing heart, I sent it to thirty within three weeks so that I wouldn’t give up at the first No Thanks. That worked. I had twenty-six rejections, four requests for the full manuscript and an offer. One of the best days of my life. My agent at the time, Victoria Hobbs at AM Heath, secured a deal with Transworld.

What advice would you give other writers?

Mark out your time, even if it’s only half an hour a day. Stick to a routine and write even if you don’t feel like it. 

Learn to properly critique and edit your own work before you give it to anyone else – I did a course on this and it was invaluable (Jericho Writers). 

Don’t give your MS to friends and family to read and comment on. It puts them in a difficult position. Instead, if you’re serious start saving up for a professional critique from a reputable company like Cornerstones, Jericho Writers or The Novelry. But don’t send them anything until you’ve gone the extra mile. (see learn to critique and edit your own work!)

Also, interrogate your ego. It could be getting between you and representation. There’s the ego that will organise a professional edit but not take the advice because it doesn’t agree. There’s the ego that has that one precious pearl of a book and can’t move on from it despite repeated rejections. There’s the ego which will only write ‘what I want to write’, and won’t look for the space where what it wants to write dovetails with what people want to read. 

What’s next for you?

Next is a thriller about the devastating aftermath of a lie told by an angry and embarrassed teenage girl. That’s coming out in October 2025 and I’ve just sent a draft to my agent to take a look at before it goes to my editor. I have everything crossed! I heard today that she’s read a third of it and loves it. Hopefully the next two-thirds won’t change her mind.

The Commuter is out on October 10th.

Interview With Author of Swim And Star Survivor Lisa Brace

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When did you realise you wanted to be a writer?

I’ve written since I can remember. I wanted to be a journalist from about 6yo and my passion for telling stories has continued since then! It was lockdown that gave me the time to write my first book, it gave me a chance to escape

Where do you get your inspiration from?

Oh everywhere! For my romcoms it’s a mixture of people watching (listening!) and dreaming of exotic places. For the historical ones I have a real passion for telling forgotten women’s stories, particularly from the early 20th century so I’m often on the lookout for the next story. Swim was inspired by something I saw on the Antiques Roadshow, whilst the one I’m working on at the moment was influenced by an advert I saw!

What’s your writing routine?

I don’t know if it’s a routine to be honest. I’d love to say I have a special desk with a view where it’s all peaceful, like the writers of yesterday, but mainly it’s write whenever I’m free. Sometimes I can get a chapter down first thing in the morning, other times it’s much later in the day. If I’m writing a book I do tend to try and get a chapter down a day as a minimum, so I don’t lose the momentum.

You also write novellas as Holly Green which is very cool. Can you tell us more about that?

The novellas were a way for me to dip my toe into writing romcoms, but I thought it best to write under a pen name whilst also bringing out the other books (it’s been a busy ten months), to prevent confusion. I like the novellas as they’re all around 40k, they’re all marketed as fun, light reads, and I love the response I’ve had to them! They’re called the Secret Series, but can be read in any order.

You have written for twenty years, what advice would you give to aspiring writers?

Write the thing. I know it’s tempting to go on loads of courses and read lots of advice, but honestly, the two things are write the thing you want to say, and make sure you read loads too, whether that’s in your genre or the magazine you want to write for. You’re not a writer if you’re thinking about writing a book…but you are if you’re actually putting words down on paper!

You write both historical and contemporary fiction. Do you have a favourite?

That’s like trying to choose a favourite child… I love them both equally because they do different things for me. I love writing commercial and romantic fiction because I love telling a fun story, I love bringing the way I view the world to paper, whereas with historical fiction it needs so much research and can be a slog to get it to work, but once I’ve got under the skin of the character and can say what I want to say, something clicks and the words flow.

Star Survivor is based on reality television. Did the drama those shows have make it easier or harder to write the book?

To be honest, reality TV isn’t just about the drama on screen, it’s as much about whatever is happening off screen too. Take Love Island, we see what’s on screen, then we discuss it all on social media and make judgements, and then afterwards we dissect relationships and people as though they’re characters. It’s too easy for us to forget they’re real, that’s part of the reason I wanted to write SS.

You write about a real life Olympian, Lucy Morton, in Swim. How did you weave fact and fiction together so well?

I wanted to celebrate Lucy’s story, I was surprised noone had before. But I realised that it couldn’t be a book ‘just’ about swimming, there needed to be things other people could be interested in. That’s where the fiction came into it. I wanted to talk about what was happening in those times in the context of a woman’s place. I love Swim, and am thrilled at the reception it’s getting.

I love your social media posts. Especially TikTok. Do you have any advice for writers who want to put themselves out there?

To be honest, all authors need to be on social media, unless you’re Margaret Attwood! I’d recommend choosing one or two channels and sticking with them. The most important thing is to be real. Don’t try and be someone you’re not, or follow trends. It’s all well and good trying to go viral, but most of the times there’s no real rhyme or reason to a successful sm post. Be yourself and have fun. If you don’t want your face on there, don’t do it. Post about the themes of your books, or your research but mainly try and engage with people.

What’s next for you?

Lots! The third in the Secret series is out September, Secret Crush. I’m working on a second historical fiction novel set in the same era as Swim, and have a couple of other projects in the pipeline too. Though three novellas and two books in 11 months is enough for this year…