Insomnia

Those nice people publishing The Memory of Trees bought it on the strength of three chapters just before Christmas. That was less than a third of the novel which I subsequently finished in March.
In February my agent told me I needed to be thinking about the next book. I grumbled that Trees was occupying my mind pretty much full time.
But I woke up at 2 am one morning early in March and the basic theme of what became The Lazarus Prophecy was there,
fully-formed in my mind. Instead of going back to sleep, I wrote it down.
The day in late March when Trees got the thumbs up from the publisher was the day I started Prophecy. I finished it on Sunday, 96, 000 words in about seven weeks. I've never before written with such focus, energy and sheer enjoyment.
Trees is published at the end of June and is heavy on myth and atmosphere. But I think Prophecy features in Edmund Caul the most sinister character I have yet created.
Ultimately the judgment as to whether my books are any good comes from you, their readers. But I'm very happy with both of these stories.