I was lucky because my mum was a teacher and showed me how to read and write. But most importantly, she encouraged me to use my imagination.

Anyone who has an imagination can write a book - it's cheap to do - but movies are big money.

I have music on when I write. I don't like the isolation otherwise and find the silence deadening.

I'll never forget a meeting with one publisher where they said, 'We don't publish books for teenage boys; teenage boys don't read.'

I always loved horror, but I read all sorts of books. My favourite as a child was 'The Secret Garden' which has a big influence on Lord Loss, believe it or not!

I wanted to write about racism and xenophobia in 21st Century England and Ireland, but I wanted to do it in an exciting way so that I could reach more readers. Zombies seemed like a good way to do that.