Parched, Creeping Dread

Tim Stevens, whose compact and intelligently twisty spy stories are well worth your attention, has posted a very kind review of my book The Wolf That Will Swallow the Sun (PDF ebook version here), which is set during a Fimbulsummer and treats of a strange archaeological find. It seems my personal loathing for hot weather has at last been put to good use, as Lovecraft's allergy to the cold reputedly helped chill the atmosphere of his mountains of madness.

I have read Christopher Priest, but not extensively or very enthusiastically: I found Fugue for a Darkening Island convincing but ugly (if beautifully titled) and A Dream of Wessex unconvincing and ugly, and I'm not familiar with the Dream Archipelago at all. I do like Christopher Nolan's film version of The Prestige, however. I've been to Scarborough, but it was a very long time ago.

Since you didn't ask, several names in the book are derived from Danish words (I thought Old Norse would be taking things a bit far); and my favourite character's appearance and persona are based on the German actress Marianne Sägebrecht, who played the combatants' housekeeper in Danny DeVito's The War of the Roses, and the forensic pathologist Dr Leidzinger in Richard Stanley's Dust Devil.