I write domestic noir, psychological crime and historical mysteries. I have six novels out there (and more on the way), and I think I’ve got the hang of it, so any sane person would stick with it. But instead I am now side-stepping into Science Fiction. Why?

Mainly because of Covid-19. The first lock-down of 2020 should have been an ideal time for writers to hunker down and spend twenty hours a day at their keyboard, with nothing else to do, Instead, many, including me, found our minds going numb, leaving us unable to concentrate on little things like words. I went into hibernation.

When I did emerge, blinking, yawning and surrounded by half-written crime hazelnuts, I realised that crime really wasn’t fitting my mood. In the midst of a pandemic, I didn’t want to immerse myself in the misery, trauma and pain of realistic murder. I wanted to immerse…