Authors Electric

Malefice , the novel I for adults that I wrote in the very early nineties and which I have just self-published on the Kindle platform, is the story of a witch who was prosecuted and hanged in the seventeenth century, and my inspiration for it was the simple thought: I want to write a novel about a witch. The reason it's set in the seventeenth century is that the only local witch prosecution I could find out about was in Waltham St Lawrence parish register: "Mabel modwyn widowe abact 68 years old arraigned for witch craft at Redding 29th Feb: and condemned on the 5th of March, 1655. Shee lived at ye south-wist cornr. of lower Innings in ye cornr. next to Binfield" I changed the name of the village, and the witch; I was definitely writing for adults, and Mabel sounded a bit like The Worst Witch . Alice Slade, my witch would be called, and the village would be Whitchurch St Leonard. I did a lot of research; I always do for my novels, and I found out that the ...

The invisible bookshelf - do you have one? I do.      There are writers you know about, whose work you are definitely going to read 'one day' because, yes, you know it will be rewarding, which is why you put them on the invisible bookshelf in the first place, but somehow, you never get round to it. Leslie Wilson, who wrote the poignant Young Adult novel, set in Hitler's Germany: 'Last Train From Kummersdorf' has been one of these. She's a colleague, no, a friend , and I'd never read her - shameful.      I will, I will, I promised myself - but never did. Then her new book: 'Malefice' , was posted on Facebook. I was intrigued by its cover image, seduced by hints of evil, witchcraft, magic, impressed by its recommendation from the illustrious Hilary Mantel, and hey! it came in a Kindle edition - irresistible! Dear readers, I bought it.      There are times when a work of art - a novel, a poem, a painting - seems to echo p...