elizabeth mcgregor  -    holly fox    -   elizabeth cooke 

Dear Reader,

Wishing all my readers a very happy New Year....

Over the Christmas period I had one of those light-bulb moments about a subject long close to my heart, a case at the close of the eighteenth century. I researched this two to three years ago, and suddenly it has all come together. Sometimes there is a time, and you have to wait for it to click into place. This has just happened, as it happened with The Ice Child ten years ago. You know when you suddenly feel an obstruction vanish, after leaning on a door for ages? The door opens almost without any more effort from you.... It's exciting, to say the least.

The dramatised reading of my play WE ARE GODS went very well on Monday 26th October. It was a curious, exciting, mind-expanding experience. I've now finished a further draft which alters the play in many respects. If I hadn't had the opportunity of seeing the reading, I would never have grasped what needed to be done. Thank you for the fantastic efforts of Kate, the cast, and Michael at the White Bear at Kennington for his encouragement.  WE ARE GODS now goes out into the wide world and we're keeping everything firmly crossed for favourable reactions.

I've also just finished my second play, a black comedy called A LONG WALK TO WEDNESDAY. I love writing comedy, and the plays have been quite a contrast to my normal work schedule. To complete a play in a month is a great break from a year's slog at a novel.

I tend to travel a lot.  Just before Christmas, I was in eighteenth century London. in 2008 I was having an affair in Sicily - the kind of short-lived love that manages both to burn itself out and yet last a lifetime. That's the beauty of writing, transported free of charge to the outer limits of your imagination! Of course, it can have its drawbacks. For instance, I was once incarcerated in a nineteeth century lunatic asylum for almost a year; and I spent five harrowing months trapped in Victoria Sound in the Arctic. But then I've also invaded other people's souls : a woman in the moment that she finds out about her husband's affair - a man who realises that the murderous hand on his shoulder belongs to his own daughter - a child at the very edge of life waiting for a miracle. And so many others. I've been an explorer, an archaeologist, an angel, a priest. I’ve been loved and desired. I’ve died a dozen times. I once spent a year in nineteenth century China, chasing a fantastic dream with only a handwritten map to guide me.

I love what I do, but it's certainly erratic. In the past twenty years I’ve had twelve novels published. If you go to the 'Novels' section you can find their ISBNs, which is always helpful when ordering!

I'm still painting, too (see biography!). Below centre is a photo of the latest one - 'BLUE'. For the others, see www.redfoxgallery.co.uk  One of my paintings, LAST GARDEN LIGHT, was shortlisted last year for the National Open Art Competition at Chichester. From nowhere to somewhere, it's amazing. I'm a firm believer that creativity produces creativity - it grows and expands and touches other people, and they return to you, giving you fresh perspectives and ideas. Wonderful. I think human beings are basically group creatures rather than isolationists. Remember that line in Jurassic Park, where the scientist gazes at the animals ahead of him and says, 'They move in herds...I knew It! They move in herds.' It makes me smile because that's what we do, we move in herds, in groups, in societies. We need each other, and we fire off each other. 

Please click on the 'Novels' section for details of each title; and the biography section for more details about me.

If you have a professional enquiry, I’m represented in London by Euan Thorneycroft at www.amheath.com.

Thanks for your interest.

Liz