A funny example of life turning full cycle: on 5.30pm Wednesday night I’ll be interviewing the writer Nikki Gemmell at the Hunter Writers Centre. I’ve previously blogged about Gemmell’s writing, particularly the erotic best seller The Bride Stripped Bare, and have just finished reading her latest: With My Body. Bride was one of the reasons I started my experiment with erotic literature, and the inspiration for my 1001 nights novella. Another driver was the memory of reading The Story of O while an art student in London. Co-incidentally, With My Body mentions The Story of O (something of an erotic classic) and the main character is a sun-starved Australian living in London. I can vividly recall this feeling that there was never enough light. At the height of one particularly dreary winter I remember staggering into a South Kensington solarium and spending a happy hour zapping myself with carcinogenic rays.

Anyway, if you’re in Newcastle on Wednesday afternoon, I might see you at the Hunter Writers Centre.