Yesterday was Remembrance Sunday. My grandad and great-grandads, like most people’s, fought in the First and Second World Wars.

Looking through their medals as a kid is a memory that’s stuck with me.

BLOOD GODS is my latest novella, which is released in February in the COUNTING STARS box set. Set in the REBEL VAMPIRES world, it was inspired by a poppy. The symbol of remembrance, heroism and sacrifice. It commemorates the war dead.

How do you become a hero? What’s true sacrifice? And what does it mean to be human, even if humans sometimes act like the monsters? 

These are all the core ideas that inspire and drive me. I’m excited to tell you more when the box set’s released…

I remember sitting turning over the paper poppy each year and wondering what it meant. Then studying the First World War and seeing those scarlet fields. And at least partly understanding.

When people ask where inspiration comes from for my books, the honest answer is: life. Sometimes, the spark has been there from childhood.

Old medals and paper poppies. Or the heroes still fighting.