What one thing am I obsessed about (apart from writing)? It would have to be technology. I love it. I drive an electric car. I have an electric bike. I look at fridges that tell you when you’re out of milk and now I’m itching to buy one…

Given that I sell most of my books (95%) for the Kindle, you might think that I read on a device, too. And I do, sometimes, but I’ve found myself a little distracted at times and have not been reading quite as much as I would like. I decided to go back to how I used to do things to see if that helped. I was lucky enough to get hold of a copy the first book in George R. R. Martin’s A SONG OF FIRE AND ICE sequence (or GAME OF THRONES as the rest of the world knows it) in a beautiful edition from The Folio Society.

Reading a beautiful book is a wonderful feeling, and something I’d forgotten how much I enjoyed. There is something permanent about physical books – a technology that has endured centuries, and will endure centuries more. Ebooks aren’t a rival to it, but, instead, they are complimentary. Reading is reading, and should be encouraged however people enjoy it – despite having best-sellers on the various online platforms, I can’t tell you how exciting it was to see THE CLEANER in hardback out in the wilds earlier this year (with the paperback edition out in December as well – a perfect stocking filler….)

Christmas is coming – many of you will have books given to you over the festive period, and long may that continue. Perhaps that’s one thing that will never be replaced by the Internet – after all, it’s very hard to wrap a download.