KJ Charles

Some have said "cravats and smut". I mostly write queer historical romance, generally with murder or shenanigans of some sort, occasionally with fantasy. I also have a detective novel, and two fantasy novels coming.

In a market town in the Chiltern Hills, which was sufficiently dull that it propelled me to London, where I live and my imagination is firmly located! On the plus side...uh...the Chilterns are full of chalk, so I have extremely strong bones in my typing fingers?

Voracious, lived-in-the-library-all-summer, moved-into-the-adult-section-at-11. A huge rereader. Also extremely fast. I read the entire Lord of the Rings trilogy in one sick day while home from school (I admit I skipped the poetry).

That got a real "Ew, no" reaction from me! There are a ton of authors I admire hugely and whose skills I contemplate with deep envy, but my job as a writer is to write the best I can, not to ape someone else, because I'm not them.

five. what do you mean five?

Five authors:

Terry Pratchett

Beverly Jenkins

TS Eliot

T. Kingfisher

Bernadine Evaristo

Five series:

The Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells

Johannes Cabal by Jonathan L Howard

The Brown Sisters by Talia Hibbert

Matthew Swift by Kate Griffin

Astreiant by Melissa Scott

There isn't one because people are far too different, but my Terry Pratchett collection needs constant replenishing.

Probably my most personal book is Death in the Spires, an Edwardian Oxford-set murder mystery, but not in ways you could directly map.

Wow, why not ask me which of my kids is my favourite too? I don't know, but I will say that All Of Us Murderers is hands down my favourite cover I've ever had...

A shed in the garden. Posh shed with windows, but still a shed. One wall is a huge blackboard for scrawling, one is all bookshelves, hopelessly laden. I have a walking desk (high desk and treadmill) and a beanbag if I need to sit and sulk about plots. Historical maps of London on the walls. It looks out onto the end of the garden, which is next to a park, so I see constant birds and the occasional fox.

A window seat with cushions, wide enough that I can sit cross legged, with a view of mountains, water, or both, and somewhere to put a cup of tea/glass of Scotch.