the first ten

interview with the author

What is 'The First Ten'?

It is not, as some have alleged, a confessional account of my first ten murder victims. It is instead a perfectly innocent book of my first ten prose stories, written specifically for this collection. I hesitate to call them short stories as some of them are in the fifteen thousand word range, which I think classifies them as novellas.

What can you tell us about the stories?

Most of the them trample gloriously across genre boundaries. In the mix you will find science fiction, thriller, horror, ghost story, fantasy and maybe even a dash of fairy tale. Broken anti-heroes face the end of the world and demons rattle the doorway to our dimension.

Is this book suitable for children?

No. Not even slightly. There's swearing, sex, torture and serial killers. Not just that, you understand. There's plenty of light and laughs but there's enough darkness in here to upset any wee ones. And some of the older ones too, I'm sure.

Why did you write this book?

It struck me as being the quickest method of transferring the ideas from my head into the heads of any prospective audience. I have a lot of ideas, as my scripts will testify, but TV and film aren't always the quickest route to get those ideas out there. They can both have very long pre-production times. This is of course assuming that the project reaches the finish line and actually becomes a TV show or a film. Some never do, which means whatever ideas I've attached to the project will die with them. I've had this happen too many times over the years. It felt high time to cut out the middlemen.

Are there any Doctor Who stories in the book?

Not as such. I think I'd have to pay the BBC if there were. Having said that...

The first time I met Steven Moffat I pitched him a story which he helpfully pointed out was missing a monster, which tends to be a bit of a necessity for Doctor Who. I've since figured out what the monster should be, should it ever become an episode, but I've also taken the core idea, stripped out the time-travelling good samaritan and repurposed it as a short story, which can be found here.

I wonder if you can figure out which one...

Would you like to write for Doctor Who again?

Absolutely. Such a great sandbox to play in. Part of the reason for not burning through Doctor Who ideas in this collection was to keep them for the show. If and when I get invited back, I want to make sure that I've still got plenty of untouched Who shaped goodies to pitch.

Would you adapt these stories into films or TV shows?

Funny you should ask. My American agents are currently negotiating to sell the rights to a few of these stories with me attached as screenwriter. So read them now so that you can act all sniffy and superior when they appear on the screen. “Of course, the short story was much better.”

What else are you doing?

There are a few more TV and movie irons in the fire. As always, until they're officially announced, I can't discuss them for fear of lawyers. I also have a folder on my hard drive titled 'The Second Ten'...