Written

I met Tina Turbin over the internet when she sent me her book, dvd and cd all to do with Danny the Dragon, from America. On the surface Tina appeared to be a writer but dig a little deeper and what I discovered was an amazing person who is doing so much to help people especially those who have a problem with Gluten, and has three websites that show the different facts of her life.

How could I not do an interview with her - enjoy.

Vicky: Can you remember anything about the photo shoot with the Bing Crosby family when you were 36 months?

Tina: I recall vividly the pool, the swimming lesson and feeling so free in the water. I was not all that into the attention. I was just so proud that everyone loved to watch me swim. I was terribly young.

Vicky: Did this perhaps unconsciously spark the interest in your going into showbiz? Not really, to be honest.

Guy Gavriel Kay has the special ability to take history and turn it into a fantasy that makes it a joy to read. I first met him when I interviewed him about 'Tigana' which now seems to be in the mists of time.

Ann has also been a fan of Guy's works and read 'Under Heaven' and so got to ask the questions for this interview - I just added a couple at the end - we hope you the reader will enjoy the result.

Ann: Do you visualize your characters?

Guy: As a rule, more as the books go on and they grow for me. I don't outline, and so there's very much a discovery process in every book.

Ann: How much input do you have into the cover design of your books ?

Guy: This varies from market to market, and is mostly a function of situations where I have longstanding relationships with editors and marketing people. In general by now I certainly get to say my piece and in some cases the covers represent very happy collaborations among a number of us.

Having read House Rules and being the mother of Naomi an adult on the autisitic spectrum I wanted to do an interview with Jodi Picoult. Time was very precious in her schedule so Kerry Hood her PR from Hodder & Stoughton kindly asked the questions for me while they travelled from one interview to another.

Thankyou Kerry.

VW: You seem to keep your writing eye fairly attuned to subjects that are difficult to talk about - what is it about any given subject that you feel would make a good story?

Bleinda Bauer's debut novel 'Blacklands' seems to have caught the public imagination and so we here at BFKbooks wanted to know more about what went into writing the book. Gareth who did the review is the interviewer.

G: This is an assured debut - how long have you been nursing this wonderful premise before you actually wrote it?

BB: Not long at all. I had the idea and the story fell into place in my head in days, so I just started writing pretty much straight away because I knew exactly where I was going.

G: What were your main aims when writing this - did you have a particular reason for writing it?

BB: Not really. I just thought it would be an exciting story to write.

It's been nearly three years since BFKbooks interviewed Alison Weir during which she has written several books. In this interview Ann who reviewed her latest book asked her about 'The Lady in the Tower' as well as her research and other things.

Ann: Jane Grey and Elizabeth were both apparently amazingly precocious and talented. Do you think they were typical of their age and class?

Alison: Both were formidably intelligent, and were lucky enough to benefit from the kind of classical education that had only recently been extended to girls of the royal family; few aristocratic girls were so lucky, although that was gradually changing, as more parents emulated the royal example.

Both Gareth and I read the brilliant 'Dead Tomorrow' by Peter James, and wanted to find out why Peter wrote about organ and child trafficking in Romania. Here are Peter's answers.

BFK: Why did you choose the twin subjects of the black market organ transplant business and Eastern European child trafficking from Romania.

Anna Van Der Post has edited a brilliant book, that shows a different side to coping with children and teenagers on the Autistic Spectrum - especially Asperger's, and I wanted to know her thoughts, about why she felt it necessary to publish such a book - and could it help other parents and children.

Anna also wrote the article A Cautious Celebration of the Autism Act 2009.

Vicky: Why did you write 'Children and Teenagers with Aspergers'?

When an author is being hyped up, you always want to know what makes them tick, and so it was for Gareth who reviewed Stop Me by Richard Jay Parker. Here are his answers.

Gareth: How did you come up with the idea for the novel?

Richard: I've always suspected there's something sinister about chain emails. You never know who it's come from and who it's going to. Also the idea of the recipient being cursed if they don't forward it to ten friends is pretty skewed. I just took that idea to its extreme - what if someone were to die if the email isn't forwarded?

Gareth: What persuaded you write the story as a novel rather than a screenplay?

When I was sent The Stephensons' Rocket to review, I just fell in love with it, because our first dog to come into my family was a greyhound called Feather - and this book brought back so many happy memories. I just couldn't resist asking Jayne a few questions on how she became involved with greyhounds and why she wrote the book.

Vicky: Why did you write The Stephensons' Rocket?

Jayne: I'd been writing children's history books and curriculum resources for about 25 years, but had always wanted to try my hand at fiction. It came to the time when it felt like it was now or never! Then I joined a small writers' group, where I was able to get the help, encouragement and support I needed to achieve my ambition.

Vicky: What was your inspiration for this story?

Timothy Freke's book 'How Long is Now' follows on from 'Lucid Living' and as I'd last interviewed Tim in 2007 this was a good opportunity to do a catch up. He is extremely busy and has very kindly given us some answers that he already has.

Gareth: Why do you call yourself a ‘standup philosopher'?