Back when I was a sales rep for Headline publishing, I would drive all over the south east of England from my home in Epsom, Surrey. I decided that if I was going to be stuck in a car for much of the day, then I would use that time to fill my brain with some good nutritious listening, which meant a lot of Radio 4, including In Our Time with Melvyn Bragg and Women's Hour. But the day almost always started with the Today programme and so many of my early morning traffic jams were in the company of one of its presenters James Naughtie. So it was a particular delight to be offered the chance to interview him for the podcast. Of course, whenever I'm interviewing a journalist I worry that I'll fluff if and look like an amateur, but James was great and put me at my ease right away. It's a fun interview and James's Will Flemyng spy thrillers are from all accounts proper page-turners.
Later in the podcast, inspired by my chat with James about books as treasured things, me and Mr D discuss how bookshelves are like carefully arranged shrines with sacred objects (books!) from significant moments in our lives. I recalled buying a copy of David Selzer's The Omen in a second hand English language bookshop while I was holiday in Spain when I was about 11-years-old. I can't tell you how many times I read and re-read this, but I loved it, totally falling for the (fake) quotes from Revelations. I'm pretty sure this was the first horror novel I read (unless you count Jaws, which I probably should) and it sparked a love of the genre that's never left me. Just holding it on my hands takes me back to that holiday and happily reading in the shade... What was the first horror novel you ever read? Let me know in the comments below...
All together now... "Sanguis, bibimus!"
Here's this week's podcast for you to enjoy. In the extended edition I give all sorts of tips for building characters. If you want to hear that, then become a Chart Topper supporter of the podcast here.
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