When I tell people that I write westerns, they usually ask why. Well, I loved watching westerns on the telly when I was young. Series like 'Alias Smith and Jones', 'High Chaperral' and 'Bonanza' were on regularly. While I had a Sindy doll, she came a poor second to my action figures of Butch Cassidy and the Lone Ranger and their horses.

My dolls rarely went in for dull occupations like being a model or a doctor; they were usually outlaws or adventurers. Later on, I discovered western novels and collected dozens of them. And of course, western movies. As it happens, I like most genres of movies and fiction; the western is one of them but it dominates my writing. Any author or would-be author will tell you that the hardest thing is not writing a novel, but getting agents and publishers to look at it. The first full-length book I wrote happened to be a western, because I had a strong urge to write about those particular characters. I knew that westerns are almost impossible to sell in Britain, but I wrote that book more as a learning experience than anything. However, I discovered that Robert Hale publish westerns and were willing to look at a newcomer's manuscripts. Although they didn't accept that first book, at least they looked at it and made encouraging remarks. In the face of deafening indifference from elsewhere about other fiction, I wrote a book especially for Robert Hale and got it accepted.
So I write westerns because I like the settings and the possibilities, and because I'm fairly sure that they'll get published, which is the point of writing, after all. I like other people to read what I've written.

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