I have always been interested in the concept of chi - the vital energy, which forms the basis of traditional Chinese medicine and which is so prevalent in Oriental thought. I therefore decided to turn my villain into a brilliant scientist who is passionate about chi and who has devoted his life to the study of this mysterious life force. But Adrian Ashton is not just a genius, he is also a killer. He has mastered the secret of draining the chi of his victims and making it his own. It was great fun researching the world in which he lives and I enjoyed putting a twist to the vampire legend, creating a vampire for the twenty-first century: a thief of light.

My second source of inspiration was the world of martial arts. I am a kickboxer and I love nothing more than to spar with some very cool guys in the two London dojos where I train. For years I've wanted to write a book that draws on my knowledge of the fighting world. Furthermore, I have long been fascinated by the many myths and legends featuring battle-scarred men who are protected - or cursed - by beautiful, powerful women. And so I created the character of Mia Lockhart, a martial artist descended from a long line of Keepers: women who are both warriors and healers.

Tattoos, quantum physics, sweaty men and chi: I started writing Keeper of Light and Dust* with a number of haphazard ideas in my head. Some of these ideas have been germinating for a while. When I researched the topic of 'remote viewing' for my previous book, Season of the Witch, I became interested in the concept of psi-space and read up on Hall Puthoff's work at Stanford Research Institute and his enthusiasm for the Zero Point Field. A chance reading of Lynne McTaggert's The Field, in which she offers a compelling argument for the concept of an interconnected universe, further inspired me, specifically her chapter on Fritz-Albert Popp and his research into biophotonics. Her second book, The Intention Experiment, was invaluable to my understanding of remote healing. My imagination was also kicked into overdrive by Robert O. Becker's intriguing book, The Body Electric, which deals with organ regeneration and biolectronics.