About a decade ago, I was reading a book on cosmology when the term “dark matter” leapt out at me. I knew at once that this would be my story’s title.   [pull float=”alignleft”]I knew at once this would be my story’s title[/pull]I also knew that it would be about a scientist at an isolated…

Michelle was BBC Breakfast’s special guest today as she appeared to talk about her new adventure series, GODS AND WARRIORS. On the famous red sofa with Simon McCoy and Louise Minchin, Michelle revealed some scary secrets from her global research trips… watch the full interview here:

Michelle’s hotly-anticipated ghost story, DARK MATTER, has been published in the UK to massive critical acclaim. “Dark Matter is brilliant” enthuses bestselling novelist Jeffery Deaver.  “Imagine Jack London meets Stephen King. The novel virtually defines a new genre: literary creepy. I loved it.” “Compelling… direct… relentless” writes Helen Rumbelow in The Times.  “Dark Matter is…

It has been announced that Michelle has won Britain’s most prestigious writing prize for children’s fiction, The Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize. The award has been given annually since 1967, and is decided by a panel of authors and the reviews editor for The Guardian’s children’s books section.  It is similar in status to the American…

The land is one vast Forest, peopled by small clans of hunter-gatherers. They have no writing, no metals, and no wheel.  They don’t need them.  They’re superb survivors.  They know every tree and herb in the Forest.  They know how to make beautiful, deadly weapons from flint and bone.  They know the animals they hunt…

I want the reader to feel that they’re right there with Torak and Wolf. And that means research. However, it’s vital not to include too much in the stories, so I’m careful only to put in a tiny part of what I’ve learned: maybe as little as 1%.  The challenge is to put in just…

Since I was a child, I’ve read everything I could find about wolves, and the wolf talk which Torak uses is as close as I can get to real wolf talk.  For example, when he asks Wolf to play, or muzzle-grabs him when he’s a cub, that’s how a real wolf might invite play, or…

To get ideas for what the Seal Islands might be like, I went to the Lofoten Islands of north Norway, and stayed in a rorbu (a fisherman’s hut built on stilts over the water). I was there at the time of the midnight sun (when the story takes place), and spent several days roaming the…

Michelle was born in Nyasaland (now Malawi), where her South African father ran the tiny Nyasaland Times, and her Belgian mother wrote a weekly gossip column. But the days of genteel colonial society were numbered, and in 1963 the family moved to England, where she was educated in Wimbledon and at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford.…

It was one of those amazingly lucky chances.  Just after I’d finished WOLF BROTHER, my agent was at a drinks party, where he encountered Ian McKellen.  They talked a bit about the book, a copy was subsequently sent round, and a few days later, Ian said he’d be interested in reading the audio book.  I…