Teri Terry
About Author
Born in France to Canadian parents of Dutch and Finnish ancestry, Teri Terry has lived in France, Canada, Australia and England at more addresses than she can count, acquiring three degrees, a selection of passports and a silly name along the way.
Moving constantly as a child, teenager and adult has kept Teri on the outside looking in much of her life. It has given her an obsession with characters like Kyla in Slated.
Teri recently left her job with Buckinghamshire Libraries to write full-time and complete her Research MA on The Depiction of Terrorism in YA Literature.
She has also been a property lawyer in Canada, ran her own business as an optician in Australia and a teaching assistant and science technician in secondary schools in England. She fell in love with children's books when she was working for the audiobook charity, Calibre.
Author link
Interview
DARK BLUE RISING
HODDER CHILDREN'S BOOKS
JULY 2020
DARK BLUE RISING, the latest new trilogy from bestselling author TERI TERRY, follows Amber as she begins to uncover things about her past that will have a huge impact on her future.
Why has her mother always kept her away from other children, and why is she so suspicious of the authorities? And why does Amber have such a strong calling to the sea?
We asked TERI TERRY to introduce us to DARK BLUE RISING, and to tell us about the ideas that drive her stories:
Q: Can you tell us a little about your latest novel, Dark Blue Rising?
A: Dark Blue Rising is Tabby's story. She and her mum have always lived off the grid, moving around, never staying anywhere long enough to make friends. Then something happens at the start of the story that leads to her being taken to hospital, setting into motion a chain of events that lead to her discovering everything she thought she knew about herself and her life was a lie.
Q: How did the ideas for Dark Blue Rising start to emerge?
A: It came when three obsessions collided: the climate emergency; the sea; and weird science (I don't want to say what kind of weird science just now - plot spoilers!)
Q: How do you know which idea you want to continue into a novel / series?
A: I usually know right from the beginning. The exception to that was Slated, which started as a single novel and it quickly became apparent that the story needed more room.
Likewise, the things I wanted to tackle in Dark Blue Rising were too big to fit in one novel. We did debate whether to make it two or three, but I feel it more naturally sits in three. I never set out with the goal of writing a standalone or a series; when I find a story I want to tell, the story dictates the form.
Q: Can you tell us a bit about your main character, Tabby, and why you decided to make her a bit of an outsider?
A: Tabby's life when the story begins has been dominated by living off the grid - outside of society, really. This was essential to the story, so I suppose I knew that about my character before I knew anything else about her.
Q: Tabby is drawn to be near the sea - does that echo something in you?
A: I've always loved water - lakes, rivers, the sea - but especially the sea. I've been at sea in heavy weather where even the crew are getting sick but I'm cheering on the waves! I particularly love islands.
Q: This novel is set mainly in the west country, why did you choose this area? Do you like to know your settings?
A: The story had to be set by the sea. I considered a number of locations - and was tempted by the Scilly Isles and far north to the Hebrides - but as the story progressed, it made more sense if it was nearer to London.
Some settings I write about I know well and some not at all. Whenever possible I go places for research. The beach where Tabby and Jago are at the beginning is important in the second book; I meant to make a trip there this spring, but of course couldn't travel. A friend who was there last summer took a huge number of photos for me, which really helped.
Q: There is a big focus on fossil fuels and the environment in the story, why did you want to include those questions?
A: They are where the story began for me. Global warming and the threat of the sixth mass extinction - and how we react to it, now - are the defining crisis of our age. Even just from a selfishly human standpoint, it threatens more lives than covid19 ever will.
Q: Were there any areas you needed to research in order to write Dark Blue Rising?
A: I enjoy learning about things and having context in my mind that will never make it into the story. It's one of the pleasures of being an author: an excuse to take courses and read books! I've delved into the climate and weather, climate change, tipping points, oceans, cetaceans, memory and cognitive dissonance. And mermaids and conspiracy theories, too!
Q: Book 1 ends with a number of loose ends, why did you decide to finish the novel at this point? What's next for Tabby?
A: Tabby's emotional trajectory has been momentous, in the things she has learned about herself, her family, the world. It made sense to me to end when she's running away on her own.
Q: How many books in the series are you planning? Do you prefer writing series to stand-alone novels?
A: This will be a trilogy. I like writing both standalones and series, at different times. Generally, a trilogy is harder to plan and structure but easier in the sense that the world building is in place when you get past the first book. It really depends on the story which is the best fit. After this trilogy there is a standalone planned.
Q: You've already written a series about a pandemic - Contagion (see Q&A below), did that colour how you reacted to how news about Covid19 emerged?
A: It felt strange, surreal - much like Brexit did in relation to the Slated trilogy. Some of my friends have started calling me Teridamus.
Q: How have you found writing during lockdown - especially if you can't get to the settings you might have wanted to visit?
A: To begin with I was pretty much derailed. It took some weeks before I could concentrate enough to write again; it took really focusing on why I was writing this story, why it was important to me.
The settings issue has been tricky, particularly with writing the second book of the series which has a fair chunk set in London. Normally I would go to places I'm writing about if at all possible. But there are things like google maps, satellite images, and friends from London to speak to when I'm unsure of details.
Q: What have been your favourite escapes from your desk during lockdown, and what are you most looking forward to doing once it's all over?
A: There has been regular scrabble at lunchtime, jigsaw puzzles, drawing and watercolour pencils, more adventurous cooking and baking. Our cockapoo Scooby is such good company. I'm very much looking forward to seeing and hugging a few close friends.
CONTAGION
ORCHARD BOOKS
MAY 2017
TERI TERRY is well known for her explorations of near-future worlds with a twist (Slated trilogy, Mind Games) but her latest page-turning YA novel, CONTAGION, is set in today's world where a new killer disease is wiping out the population. The twist? This is not happening in the developing world; it's taken hold in the developed world, in the UK.
The questions grow as we glimpse the origins of the new epidemic. Is it a virus, or something more sinister even, something at the very tip of our scientific knowledge...? Can Shay and Callie, the dual narrators of Contagion, discover its source and find a way to halt its spread?
We asked author Teri Terry to tell us more about CONTAGION:
Q: Why did you decide to base your new series around a deadly virus?
A: Is it a virus? A bacterium? Or something else and completely unknown that is causing an epidemic...? I chose to write about an epidemic for a combination of reasons. My first degree was in microbiology, so I have a direct background and interest in this subject. Seeing Ebola in the news several years ago - and health care workers in their biohazard suits - also had an impact, but the interest was already there.
I also wanted to approach this from the angle of what would happen if something like this happened here, in the UK. The perception seems to be that these kinds of things happen in other places, to other people - but it could be us, one day, that are asking for help from the rest of the world.
Q: How much research did you need to do (and how much map-gazing...) in terms of how it could spread / containment policies etc?
A: I spent way more time than I actually needed to, researching various aspects of science that I can't even go into to anyone who hasn't read Contagion without giving it all away - but to me that is absolute fun. There is also now a laminated map of the UK on my office wall with places circled and lines drawn - I couldn't keep it straight otherwise.
Q: Why did you choose the setting of an island and Scotland?
A: I needed a remote setting for my story, and the Shetlands were a place I'd always wanted to visit - they fit the demands of the story (and my love of travel!) very well.
Once I had that chosen, the rest followed. I needed a character who lived in Scotland, within a reasonable travel of the coast, to get to the Shetlands. I had several trips to write and research the area, and as soon as I saw Killin I just knew it was the right place for Shay to live. I could see her there so clearly.
Then Kai needed to live within a reasonable number of hours of travel of Killin, and Newcastle fit the requirement - it is also a place I've visited before and so know a little. I did a research trip there also.
Q: Although it has elements of fantasy, the plot is very believable with everyday settings. Why did you decide to keep it so true to life?
A: To me the key to an effective, engaging story is always going to be about the characters. They have real lives, fears, joys - to know them, to believe they are real, you have to be in their lives.
Q: The story is told by dual narrators, Callie and Shay. Why did you want to use this structure and these two characters?
A: I used multiple viewpoints for the first time in Book of Lies, and really enjoyed how you can use that to move the plot along without getting stuck in mundane details of what is happening: you can jump into a different point of view to move things along in time.
Callie and Shay were the right characters to tell this story in Contagion, but in the next installment the story required Kai. There are further characters you haven't met yet that will have their own voice in the third.
Q: You also keep the chapters quite short and pacy, why did you feel that was right for this story?
A: In Contagion, particularly in the first part where the chapters count down hourly (and then in minutes) to time zero, the mostly short chapters heighten the tension. This continues throughout. To be fair they aren't all short; sometimes the story needed more from a given point of view, particularly later in the story.
Q: Survivors of the sickness end up with special skills - telepathy and physical empathy. Why did you decide to give the survivors these additional skills? Did you enjoy giving your characters 'superpowers'?
A: To me the story needs to make it apparent that these people are different - to make readers feel they are 'other' but still relate to them. To make them question what it is to be human. And are they actually superpowers, or just a believable extension of what humans could do if they learned to use more of their brains?
Q: One of your main characters, Callie, is present but unable to communicate except with Shay. How hard did that make it to write Callie's part?
A: Callie was interesting to write, and actually the way she can only communicate with Shay gave challenges as well as opportunities. In a sense, being the way she is - silent and unobserved - means she can see and hear things that would otherwise be difficult to access through my characters. The challenge I found at times was to remember that she wasn't just an observer and that it was important to see and feel her perspective also.
Q: Callie has a significant role in the events, both in terms of the science of the illness, and her desire for revenge on the person who caused the sickness. Can you give us a glimpse into how this will play out through the series?
A: Callie is very key to the story. But there isn't much I can say without spoilers for books 2 and 3! You'll just have to wait.
Q: You give a glimpse into how the illness started in the Prologue, with Xander in Desertron, Texas, and then quote from Xander's Multiverse Manifesto in each section. When will we find out who is Xander and his role in the outbreak?
A: There may be a few clues here and there in Contagion, but Xander's identity is revealed in book 2. We learn more about him in book 3 also.
Q: What can we expect from Book 2 and do you know when that is publishing / title?
A: Book 2 is Deception, and is scheduled for next February! The title gives you insight into what happens: and some lies can't be forgiven. And as mentioned earlier, there is a new point of view character in book 2 also: Kai.
Q: How has writing this series compared with other books you have written? What are you writing now?
A: I've really enjoyed writing this series, particularly in a few respects. I've loved the research and writing trips. I've really enjoyed the science aspects, and learning more about ... well, what can I say without spoilers? Let's just say there are aspects of science I wasn't that familiar with before that I've loved learning more about. And also revisiting my microbiology knowledge.
At the moment I'm writing book 3 of this series. Books 2 and 3 are both scheduled to be published in 2018.
Q: Some people believe the world is due a 'super bug' - after writing this, are you one of them? Where would you go to escape it?
A: In the 1980s there was great optimism that science and medicine would put an end to infectious diseases forever. Since then, things like the failure to develop a useful vaccine for HIV AIDS and bacteria developing resistance to more and more antibiotics, have shown this was misplaced. It is likely that there will continue to be plagues in the future as there has been in the past - HIV, ebola, Zika are current examples.
And, of course, there is no escape...
CONTAGION is published by Orchard Books and is available in bookshops now!
TERI TERRY: MIND GAMES
ORCHARD BOOKS
MARCH 2015
Teri Terry, bestselling author of the SLATED series, returns with a thrilling stand-alone novel, MIND GAMES, set in a world where virtual is more desirable than reality and where rationality is prized more than intelligence or creativity.
In this society, standing out from the crowd is dangerous and misfit Luna has secrets to hide. She refuses to enter the virtual world created by the all-powerful organisation PareCo in order to protect herself yet they still have their eye on her. How long can her secrets remain hidden?
Teri Terry talked to us about MIND GAMES:
Q: Why did the idea of opposing rationality and intelligence in a story interest you?
A: I read this article by Keith Stanovich who researched rationality and intelligence. He proposed that someone can be both intelligent and irrational because they are separate traits. The whole issue of intelligence and IQ is something that interests me. It probably also resonates with teenagers, who are constantly being tested at school.
But I don't think intelligence has got any bearing on how worthwhile you are as a human. I have spent way too much time at university and I have got to know people who are very intelligent but who can't handle the basic things of life.
Plus, we put our faith in institutions that hire the brightest and best, like our banks, but they have crashed due to corporate stupidity. So, what if we had a society that valued rationality instead of intelligence? Would that be any better?
To explore something like this I needed a changed world and I decided that to do it as a futuristic world would work. I would say Mind Games is more sci-fi than dystopian.
Q: Did you need to become a gamer as part of your research for the virtual world in Mind Games?
A: I have friends who are into gaming but I am not, mostly because I get vertigo really easily. I used to love Nintendo when it first came out but, as video games got better and more realistic, playing them made me feel more sick. In Mind Games, my main character Luna also feels nauseous when she has to straddle the real and virtual worlds.
But I have though had a taste of how enticing the virtual can be. I remember I was in the US, trying out this part-virtual, part-physical game in which you are physically moved as you watch a movie on a screen. It was amazing and it made me think how enticing that kind of world is, the escapism of it.
If you could really devise a world that looks how you want and populate it with the people you want, how attractive would that be? Although I think it might also get a bit boring.
Q: The virtual world you create in Mind Games is very inviting - but are there dangers in how appealing the virtual could become?
A: The online world is a very seductive one and I can see why teens would love a virtual life because they can change whatever they want to about themselves and communicate through this 'enhanced' self. Teen life today is so different from just a few years ago. I can remember our school having a computer that we weren't allowed to touch but for teenagers now, social networking is ingrained in their social lives.
In Mind Games, the two worlds become so much a part of each other. Whatever you think and feel and do in the real world is reflected in the virtual world and vice versa, you can't separate them, and Luna has this special ability where she can be in both worlds at the same time, so she's an extreme example of that.
Q: The organisation that controls this virtual world, PareCo, is all-powerful. Do you sense that we already have the seeds for a future 'PareCo' in today's global corporates?
A: It's a bit alarming how a few very big organisations are in control of so much of our lives, Google and Amazon and Apple. Everything you buy or access can be tied in with one company and it becomes part of your everyday life.
The online world is also becoming very commercialised. I'm very careful what I put online; as an author I use social networks so I know what it involves. But you can still see how they use information from your searches to try to sell you other things.
Q: Many of the 'future worlds' we read about in literature for young people are pretty bleak and there have been calls for a more positive outlook. Do you agree?
A: Do young people need stories with more hope? I don't think that anything I've published doesn't provide hope at the end and I'm mindful of doing so. I do think that anytime you want to write a story, bad things have to happen. If you set it in a future world where everything is lovely, you won't have much of a story...
Q: Have you always wanted to be an author?
A: I remember being told to write a book in school when I was about ten and the one I wrote was 50 pages long and with chapters, a title etc. By my last year in high school I knew I wanted to write but I didn't think it was something that ordinary people did, it seemed unobtainable, so my writing ebbed and flowed.
I first started writing seriously when I moved to the UK 11 years ago. I had been working as an optometrist In Australia and had to think about what it was I wanted to do. I thought, I've always wanted to write a novel, and so I started writing.
Slated is the ninth novel I wrote, there were a lot more unpublished ones before that. I'm always amazed when people get their first ever book published, it's a lucky thing but I think you also suffer after that because it's a tough learning curve and there are huge pressures on your next books.
Q: What has been one of your best moments as an author?
A: A big thing for me last year was going to Germany, to the Frankfurt Book Fair. Slated has done really well in Germany and people queued up for over an hour to have their book signed.
In the past when you had a book published, that was it - your book would disappear off and you'd never hear anything about it, but now it's nice that you get messages from fans all the time.
Q: How careful are you to plan before you start writing?
A: I do a lot more planning than I used to. Even so, Mind Games evolved a lot. I thought I would make it into two books, the first one ending when Luna goes to the Island, but what really drew the whole book together was the decision to divide it into parts using numerology. I knew that there was something missing from the story and when that fell into place, it just clicked.
Q: What have you been working on since Mind Games?
A: I've already written another stand-alone novel, Book of Lies.
I might do a series next although by the time I had finished Slated, I had decided I didn't want to do another series but that might change.
Series are more demanding and less so at the same time because you've established the world and its characters and you know where you're starting and where you're going to end, but the Slated trilogy was also very complex and it was challenging to write.
And I haven't ruled out a follow-up to Mind Games, so watch this space!
SHATTERED
ORCHARD BOOKS
MARCH 2014
In Shattered, the final book in the Slated trilogy, Kyla - whose memories were 'slated' or removed by the government-backed 'Lorders' - is given another new identity and returns to her childhood home in Cumbria, intending find her mother and to learn about her childhood. While there, she begins to learn the truth about her family history and makes a chilling discovery that sets her on the run again. This time, however, she is determined to bring the Lorders down once and for all.
Teri Terry answered our questions about Shattered, below:
Q: You've had many different careers - do you feel 'at home' in writing? Is this one here to stay?
A: Definitely! Perhaps because I've always moved around, my attention span on most things in life tends to be limited. But with writing, you are always writing new scenes, meeting new characters, going to new places with them: this I love.
I do work quite obsessively, and sometimes have issues with spending too much time alone. I've been trying to remind myself that it is ok to go out for lunch with friends every now and then!
Q: What do you enjoy about writing for teenagers?
A: I love reading YA fiction, and I love writing it. There are many reasons. I love the immediacy of writing first person present tense with a teenage character, and being inside their head. I think I relate to teens better than adults.
I also love how at that age, everything goes to extremes - emotions, reactions. Also that you can reach readers with an idea that they may not have encountered before in a way that is less likely with adults.
Q: Have you read much dystopian fiction? What do you like / not enjoy about what is out there already?
A: I definitely have read a lot of it. Just over a year ago, I finished a research MA that focused on YA dystopian fiction. Like with most things in life, moderation is key: so reading exclusively in a particular genre that you enjoy can be great for a while, but eventually you want something different.
This was the case with me when I finished the MA - I'd kind of had enough of it for a while. Also, like with every genre of fiction, there is the good, the bad, the in-between.
Q: Where did the idea of being 'slated' for this series - having all your memories wiped and starting out afresh - come from?
A: The title of course comes from the idea of being a blank slate - hence Slated. The story began with a dream that I had, which essentially is the prologue to Slated, and the story grew from there. So I honestly don't know where it came from: out of my murky unconscious! I'm sure the identity issues so key to the story are personal to me, having moved around a lot in my life.
Q: Did you work out your 'world' and the implications of being 'slated' before you started writing or did it all come as you wrote?
A: I tend to start new stories by writing my way into them, and this was true of Slated. But along the way I will periodically stop and analyse what I'm writing. I plot more now than I used to. I used to be afraid that too much plotting would kill the creative, crazy part of writing that I love, when you're diving into something without knowing where you are going.
With the second and third books particularly, I did much more plotting than I have in the past. This was partly because the plot is complicated, so it was essential, really, and also because of deadlines. There wasn't time to find my way by writing with the risk that goes along with that.
I was surprised to find that more plotting actually seemed to make the whole thing more fun: it's kind of like providing a frame in which my imagination can still go crazy. And there is always the option of breaking out and changing things if that is what needs to happen.
Q: Your world feels quite familiar - how did you forge the recognisable / futuristic divide, and keep that sense of familiarity?
A: It was a very deliberate decision to keep the world feeling recognizable and familiar to readers. I wanted them to have that this could really happen kind of feeling with this story. In Slated the world of school and home is similar to that of teens today, with the differences those essential to the story.
Q: Were there any areas you needed to research as the books progressed?
A: There was some settings research, mostly for Shattered - Oxford and Keswick - though these are both places I already know. I did do some research about memory, the brain, and dissociative identity disorder, both before writing and during. But these are areas I've long been interested in, and I'd done a fair bit of psychology and neurology at university years ago. So the research of that side of things was a continuation of long standing interests.
Q: How much of the series had you mapped out before you started writing the first book? Was it always going to be a trilogy?
A: To begin with it was going to be a standalone, but around the point when I'd written 20K, it became very obvious that was impossible. The first section of the story - which became Slated - was way too fascinating to me, and I wanted to really delve into it more. If it had been a single novel, what is now Slated had to take up no more than about this 20K, and it wasn't developed enough at that word count. So it really was the demands of the story that made me change it to a trilogy.
I had an overall structure and plot in mind from the beginning, but of course it changed as I went along, as these things do! I had synopses of the second and third books that I wrote sometime when Slated was underway, and rewrote when it was on submission.
Q: The series has quite an intricate, many-layered plot. How hard is it to balance the requirements of the plot with character development, building relationships etc?
A: To me, character development is the thing that makes the plot happen, so they are completely entwined. And I like complicated! Though there have been times when I've really wished I made things easier on myself - juggling everything over the three books and keeping all the strands straight made me crazy.
Q: You've been writing about a fairly grim world and scenario for several years now. How easy was it to let this go to do all the 'day to day' stuff of life?
Writing grim stuff usually is less of a problem for me than reading grim stuff. I think this is because when I'm writing, I'm in charge: things don't come out of nowhere and surprise me in the same way as they can when I'm reading.
Having said that, there were moments. There are scenes in Fractured in particular - to do with Katran, and her dad - that always made me cry, even when I was editing them for the millionth time.
Though whenever I'm writing pretty much anything in an obsessive-too-many-hours-thinking-of-nothing-else kind of fashion, I get hard to live with. The real world can seem of less consequence, and I have to remind myself to pay attention to those around me.
Q: How do you feel about coming to the end of the series? Relief? or are you sad to lose these characters and this world?
A: It's kind of both! There was a huge sense of relief mixed with accomplishment when I finished writing the third book. But this trilogy has been a huge focus in my life for years now, so it feels weird to think it is over.
Q: Where do you do your writing and how does your writing day go?
A: Most of my first draft writing happens very early in the morning, in my PJs in bed with a laptop. I revert to pen and paper for planning, plot sketching, and sometimes when I get stuck, but mostly write straight onto a laptop. Editing and other things are more in the afternoon.
I have the Writing Shack - a small summer house - in the garden, and I used to write there quite a lot, but for whatever reason haven't so much lately. Maybe because of the constant rain.
Q: What do you do when you get stuck?
A: I'm not sure I believe in writer's block: I call it writer's procrastination. Because of this I tend to be hard on myself when I hit a point where I want to stop, and used to make myself push through those moments.
I've started to realize that most of the time when I'm reluctant to continue, there is a reason. There is usually something not quite right - with a character, a scene, the way I'm going - and if I push through and don't give it time, this isn't usually helpful.
It is better to stop and think - or stop and deliberately not think about what I'm writing. Things like going for a walk, or doing something I can do without thought, like having a shower (not very green, but I seem to have great ideas there!) or housework (bleugh).
Q: What are you writing next?
A: I've just finished the first draft of the new thing, which should be out with Orchard Books about this time next year. We haven't released the new title yet, but there is an extract in the back of Shattered!
It is again a thriller, and again set in the future - but a very different world, characters and story than the Slated trilogy. It is set partly in London, and partly on an exotic island; partly in the real world, and partly in virtual worlds. It is set much further in the future than Slated, and has been SO much fun to write.
More on that coming soon....!
SLATED
ORCHARD BOOKS
MAY 2012
Kyla has been 'slated', her memories have been taken away and she has been given a fresh start with a new identity and a new family. The authorities say she did something wrong, that is why she was slated - but she doesn't believe them and she's determined to find out the truth.
Here, author Teri Terry talks about what inspired her debut novel, SLATED:
Q: Is Slated your first novel for young adults?
A: Yes, it's my first published novel although it's the ninth book I've written. I was writing adult books but then I started a job at the Calibre Audio Library, which creates audio books for children with dyslexia. I was the Young Calibre Development Officer and the job involved reading children's and young adult books, I realised that was what I wanted to write. Then I got a part-time job at Buckinghamshire Library before I started to write full time. And yes, I am writing under my real name - Teri Terry. My surname changed when I got married.
Q: There is a lot in Slated about how our minds work, dreams etc - did you study psychology?
A: No, but when I was studying science in Canada I had an option to do other subjects and I chose psychology, it's an area that really interests me.
I have tried to write in lots of different genres but for me, it comes down to the words in someone's head, what makes people tick the character side of things.
Q: What inspired Slated - something in the news or in society around you?
A: I realise there are a lot of dystopian novels being published now but I didnt really know what that was when I started writing this in 2009, or that that was what I was writing.
Slated actually started with a dream. I'm really interested in our dreams and what we can learn from them. I had a dream of a girl running on a beach, terrified, and I got up straight away and started writing and the first few pages of the novel, the Prologue of Slated, are virtually what I wrote that morning.
I'm not really a planner and I started writing without really knowing where it was going. I had to go back and work it out.
Q: What does it actually mean to be 'slated' in the novel?
A: Kyla has been slated which means that she should remember nothing from her former life the process is described by the government as giving young people a 'clean slate', hence the term 'slated'.
When I first thought about it, I decided people who had been slated would forget everything, even things like how to walk, but realised that that would mean a long recovery time, so I decided that being slated would just remove people's personal memories. Kyla is different though, because she remembers things that she shouldn't remember and no one knows why.
Q: So Kyla is trying to find out her identity and to find her place in the world. Is that how you see what being a teenager is all about?
A: Yes, I think when you drill down, that is what most literature for teenagers is about, although it wasn't a conscious thing for me when I sat down to write Slated, it wasn't a conscious choice for me to head down that path.
But it's also one of the things that I'm obsessed about - who I am? I have lived in several different countries - Canada, Australia and now the UK, and never lived in one place for very long, so it's hard to know where I belong.
I have always followed politics and been interested in it, but whenever I moved I would never get involved in local issues or local politics because I knew I'd be moving on again soon.
I have now lived in the same house in Buckinghamshire for eight years and it's the longest I've lived anywhere, so it's the closest I've ever had to having roots and it does feel like home.
Q: Slated is about about a future, oppressive society where people can't express themselves. Was there something in today's society that worried you enough to write about it?
A: There's nothing specific in terms of our liberties, although there are things I don't like such as curfews and 'phone hacking.
The summer riots last summer in the UK did concern me a lot, I had been writing Slated and I remember watching the events unfold and thinking how easily things could get out of hand and end up as what I had written. I couldn't believe the riots first and then the reaction to it, how everything seemed to be cycling out of control.
The background to Slated is the economic collapse of Europe and the riots that followed, so I felt for a while as if things were unfolding as I had written about them, that felt very strange.
Q: How would you get along in the world of Slated?
A: One of the main problems I would have is that I have a knack of saying the wrong thing at the wrong time, so I would quickly get on the wrong side of someone in this world.
Q: Were there any characters in the book that surprised you?
A: Probably Kyla's mum, who seems quite prickly at the beginning but she grows in depth. She has a back history that started to unfold as I wrote and I found her growing as a character more than I expected.
Q: This is a trilogy - what can we expect to find out in the second book?
A: The first book looks at terrorism from the perspective of the dominant force in a society and in book two, I start to look at it from the perspective of the terrorist.
Kyla has to think deeply about what she believes in and how to follow that through.
Dark Blue Rising
Dark Matter: Contagion: Book 1
Book of Lies
