Several people at shows have commented on the character of Stent, the down-to-earth king of the streets of Edinburgh. I must admit I've got a lot of pleasure from writing scenes with Stent in - he makes a great foil to the pomposity and self-assured confidence of some of the other characters. Where did the idea for Stent come from? Would you believe he is a real person? A few years ago I was waiting outside a shop in Edinburgh's George Street. It was mid-evening during the fe

Something a little different - a piece of evicative railway history I wrote a few years ago. Monday, 13th April 1896 would have begun for Thomas Drysdale and William George much like any other working day. They started their day’s work at the locomotive shed of the Fordell Colliery, built onto a square of wagon workshops and cottages in Fordell village in West Fife. Their locomotive, Alice, was an 0-4-0 saddle tank, built sixteen years previously by Messrs. Grant, Ritchie and

Our recent trip to the Orkney Isles and the amazing Stenness Stones and Ring of Brodgar set me thinking. Despite a great deal of learned discourse and archeological investigation, we still don't fully understand what they were for. Archer must have been around when these imposing monuments were built and he's bound to have an opinion about the real purpose of stone circles... ‘Imaginative people, archaeologists,’ commented Archer, when I mentioned that my mum had been one. ‘

Rona and I usually holiday in November, after her wonderful plant nursery closes for winter. What? You haven't been to Quercus Garden Plants ? You really must. It re-opens in March with a big selection of tough plants propagated here in Scotland and half an acre of demonstration gardens to wander through. Anyway, this year we holidayed in Orkney. What an incredible place. It may be a long way north, but at several times in history it has been at the epicentre of northern Euro

I've lived near Edinburgh, long known as 'Old Reekie', for much of my life and love its gritty history and quirky architecture - it's a great backdrop for ‘Touchpaper’ and the ‘Parallel Realm’ series. But maybe you don’t know the so-called 'Athens of the North? To help you out, here’s my brief guide. A segment of James Gordon's fabulous 1647 map of Edinburgh, used for the background of my book covers. The new town hadn't been constructed yet. The original of this map is in th

One of my favourite characters in the Parallel Realm books is Garm, the ancient creature who chooses to manifest as a scruffy terrier. I based his argumentative and judgemental character on a Jack Russell Terrier called Bracken. A succession of seven Jack Russell’s have ruled my life and by now I really should know better. Bracken may have been small, but boy was he pushy and opinionated! When I started writing 'Touchpaper' I needed a mysterious, yet down-to-earth character,

If you’ve read ‘Touchpaper’ you’ll know that Agnes Finnie appears briefly. I like to tie in the historical elements of the books with real historical events and people, where possible, so I was looking around for a woman accused of witchcraft I could use, when I came across a book by Mary W. Craig, about Agnes Finnie. Mary’s book is a fascinating read, even if history books aren’t your bag. It’s the story of a woman of her times: a shop-keeper and money-lender, striving to ma