Last night, due to a mix-up with my postal address, I had to go over to Norman Park to the house I lived in for eight years before I moved in with the Tech Badger.
This was no hardship, because it was a chance to see the old place again and the giant jacaranda tree out the back. Both feature in my debut novel, Vigil, and the tree plays a special role in the sequel Corpselight.
It was very dark, but I shone the torch from my phone on the tree … it was a good/bad idea. It looked creepy in that light, the wind was shifting branches, making noises, another tree from next door had fallen over at some point in the past and its naked branches and twigs reached out for me. I walked back up the steep driveway backwards, keeping the torchlight trained on the tree. It wasn’t as friendly as I remembered it. But it will all feed into the new book, so: WIN!
And, back on topic, here is an excellent review of The Best Horror of the Year Volume Seven.