RAW MEAT
Many people have asked where the title for my Newsletter came from; Raw Meat was one of the first unfinished novels I wrote many years ago. I thought the best thing about the novel was the title and so… it was eye-catching, that was the thing! RAW MEAT was originally Andy’s idea; he thought it would be a good way to publicise my work, after being constantly disappointed by publishers. The newsletter began life in 1999… and it’s still going strong! In RAW MEAT I have been serialising various stories from The Ziggy Collection, and also Killing Time, The Turn of the Century Party and more recently Camp Mary and With An Axe. I also write an editorial every month; I talk about works which are in progress, novels I’m reading and bands I have been to see (I am a keen music follower – over the past few years I have been to see The Cure, Nick Cave and the Australian Pink Floyd). These Editorials give an insight into my life as a disabled writer/mother coping with loosing my sight without loosing my marbles! Soon Andy and I hope to publish a collection of these editorials, which we will call '50 Bites'. If you would like to receive a free copy of RAW MEAT please send your postal address to me by e-mail at: nicbat3963@aol.com

SKIN
Skin was written in 1989 for a competition run by BBC TV; I decided to try my hand at a new form of writing… and was astounded by the results! The ideas behind Skin are various, though it is largely about the breakdown of communication between people. My first thought was always with the visual effects, the way that this tearing of skin could be used metaphorically on screen.This short TV script was originally published by the BBC in an anthology of the Debut On 2 competition winners. Although Skin was amongst the chosen six it was never televised, but it has been published once again and is used currently on the school syllabus! It has also been published by RAWPRINTZ, together with an introduction by myself, and is available to buy through RAW MEAT.

REINVENTING WILDE
My obsession with Oscar Wilde inspired me to produce a dissertation for my MA in English Studies, which I took at Manchester University in 2001 – 2004. Although I knew that the subject would be Wilde, I wasn’t sure of the exact title until I began writing… Reinventing Wilde grew naturally out of historical facts to become almost a work of fiction in itself. Writing each chapter was very exciting, combining fact and fiction, the Victorian age and modern interpretation to create something quite new. Amongst the modern interpretations I concentrated on, were Saint Oscar by Terry Eagleton, The Last Testament of Oscar Wild by Peter Ackroyd, the film Wilde with Stephen Fry, Who Was That Man? by Neil Bartlett… and not forgetting my own novels Killing Time and The Turn of the Century Party! I was very pleased with the result of this dissertation, and have made it available not only to Wilde freaks but to anyone interested in his life generally, not only his plays!
My own favourite chapter is Wilde in Fiction, which seems to lead directly into my latest novel on which I am currently working, The Space Between. This novel is being serialised in RAW MEAT at the moment. The chapter from my dissertation will be published in January 2007 in The Wildean, which is the official journal of The Oscar Wilde Society.
By the way, I passed my MA. Reinventing Wilde is available now through RAW MEAT.

THE ZIGGY COLLECTION
If Mrs Johnson’s Cavalier was partly autobiographical, this collection of tales from my life is more directly so! They were not written chronologically – in fact I only decided to collect these short stories together a couple of years ago. They cover episodes in my life; there is one about my son, Jack, another about my childhood in Stockport, another about my years spent in London. The final story, Sightless, which concentrates on how I have dealt with the loss of my eyesight over the past years. The publication of these stories will mark a completely new venture for me into autobiography – which I have so far avoided like the plague! But people have reacted so positively towards the stories when they have appeared in RAW MEAT, that I have been encouraged to publish The Ziggy Collection… which is now being published in three volumes, which you can pre-order from me.See Raw Meat for details.

FILM SCRIPTS: DRY ROT and WITH AN AXE
My initial success with Skin encouraged me to produce further film scripts, which have received positive feedback from the BBC - so far! I wrote With An Axe in 2003; I have been fascinated by the tale of Lizzy Borden’s axe murders in the 1890s for many years, and always thought that they would make an excellent visual piece. Although the BBC found my script "too literary" I am still keen to publish it myself. With An Axe should be ready for publication early in 2006. From this script I went on to write a full length film script adaptation of one of my novels, Dry Rot. I was very pleased with the result and hope to go on to write more film scripts in the future!