Archaeology forms the bones of the story, the framework to hang the story on, and the fantastical elements take the characters off into strange new directions. As for my love of history, that always seems to have been there, all wrapped up with a deep and abiding love of archaeology.Īddy: Then again how would you characterise your work? There was no commercialism, no Trick or Treat, only an age-old sense of the Otherworld lurking in the darkness, and wonderfully scary.

In it would be a pea, coin, stick and rag and depending on what you go in your slice, it would give you some idea of what the year had in store for you. We would tell ghost stories, duck for apples and eat barmbrack (a fruit loaf).īarnbrack - tastier than it sounds, just watch how you bite into it These days I have a deep love of pumpkins and I think that has a lot to do with my memories of manhandling swedes. They were actually swedes and it was like hacking into concrete. We would carve turnip lanterns, which I would advise anyone never to try. I spent part of my childhood in Leicestershire and in those days, ours was the only family in the neighbourhood who celebrated Halloween. My grandmother used to tell the best ghost stories and she swore most of them were true, and being Irish, my family embraced Halloween wholeheartedly. We moved to Africa soon after I was born, and our first home there was also reputed to be haunted. As my mother was in the late stages of labour, neither of them could make their escape, so there they stayed, terrified, listening to the unseen presence pacing the floor. She and the midwife didn’t see anything but clearly heard footsteps crossing the room. I was born in a haunted cottage in Kent and the ghost put in an appearance on the night I was born, so my mother told me.

It was love at first sight! I read the sagas and Norse myths and became just a little bit obsessed by Viking archaeology.Īs for the supernatural, ghost stories were always a part of my family life. As a child, I read fairy tales and Greek myths and legends, and when I was twelve, I came across the Vikings. Pat: I can’t remember a time when I wasn’t interested in the supernatural, and myths and legends. You evoke the blend so well! What sparked your interest and why write about them? Addy: You are clearly interested in folk tales and history and the supernatural.

The crowfield curse series