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So my new book is out today, which is VERY exciting. It was one of those books that started one way and finished… well, kind of different. Not so much in terms of story, as in what actually  happens – there were always going to be Disappearances, after all, otherwise the title just wouldn’t have worked at all, and if there’s one thing harder than coming up with an idea for a book, it’s coming up with the title. So anyway, where was I? Yes, that’s right, it was the way the book changed. Not the ‘what’, but the ‘why’. See, when I was writing The Killables I was really obsessed with the brain. Like the idea that removing a bit of it could remove all negative impulses, could create the ‘world peace’ that everyone is so desperate for. Like the fact that brain injuries can entirely change the personalities of those who suffer them. Like the fact that scientists are discovering that the sub conscious is actually in control far more than we give it credit for. The truth is, the brain is a fascinating thing. And I’m a bit of a nerd, so once I started reading up on it, I got kind of obsessed. And that’s where the idea for The Killables came from. That’s what I thought The Disappearances was going to be about.

Only then I got talking to someone about the System, the computer program I created in the Killables, which can monitor and manage people, grading them by how ‘good’ they are. And I found myself discussing how information is power now, and that power is in just a few companies’ hands, pretty much. And the more I thought about it, the more I wanted to explore the potential power that companies like google have – they know what we want, they know what we’re thinking about (who hasn’t googled something utterly random whilst watching television/having a conversation? WHo hasn’t googled the object of their fantasies, whether a person, a book, an idea or a bag?). Now what if there was someone determined to use all that information to his advantage? How could information be used to manipulate people? And in a world where the vast majority of what we think we know about stuff is gathered via computers/televisions/other screens, how do we know what’s real and what isn’t?

The Disappearances follows on from the Killables, with the same characters, but this time the canvas is broader, so whilst we get to explore the City of the first book, we also see the world around it, both physically and temporally. The narrative goes back in time to before the Horrors which created the City. It explores how that war came about. And it also follows Evie and Raffy to their new home and watches how they respond to the freedom they are given; Evie grasps it and makes the most of every opportunity but Raffy… Well, he’s not so sure. He’s used to being angry and bitter and now he’s not sure where to direct his anger. Except, of course, at the fact that Evie is so obviously flourishing and he isn’t. And it eats him up; he sees threats everywhere, thinks that everyone is trying to steal her away from him. So much so that he starts to jeopardise not just their relationship but everything they’re fought so hard for.

And then, of course, there’s Lucas, who’s back in the City battling his own demons: the anger of the people who think he’s intent on bringing Evil back into their world, the Brother, who is intent on watching him fail. And now young people are disappearing off the face of the earth and he knows that dark forces are at play but no one is revealing their secrets…

I hope you enjoy it. I’d love to hear what you think…

It’s a funny time for women right now. Not funny ha ha, although it’s that too – nice to see women on television being funny and irreverant instead of just looking great and smiling a lot. No, I mean it’s a strange and complicated time. On the one hand we’ve just had International Women’s Day; on the other hand we’ve had appalling sexual attacks in India (apparently just the tip of the iceberg), and some countries still refuse to let women be seen at all, hidden in women’s quarters, denied education, denied the basic freedoms that we in the West take for granted. On one side we have Sheryl Sandberg of google telling women that they can reach the top of any business, and on the other we have Vicky Pryce, a woman who reached the top and then cited marital coercion when she was prosecuted for taking her husband’s speeding points. And yesterday I listened to the founder of a new party, Rights for men and boys, talking passionately about how women didn’t like work, were better off at home, and should leave the important stuff to men.

I would dismiss him as a ludicrous throw back to the sixties who was just feeling frustrated and decided to blame women for all his woes (just as men in that decade fought the idea of women ‘stealing their jobs’). But I don’t think he’s alone, and on the other side of the coin, research shows that fewer and fewer girls/women are willing to say that they are feminists. So are we going forwards, or are we edging backwards? Are we going to retreat back to the home, let men take care of the important stuff and, hey, give them back our votes while we’re at it?

I thought about this last Sunday, mother’s day. I looked at my mother, who worked throughout our childhood, worked herself to the bone actually, and who now takes out my children or their cousins most days of the week, through wind, sleet and snow. She’s a hero, even though she doesn’t think of herself as one, but her influence has rubbed off on her three daughters, made us always reach to the top and to roll our sleeves up when the going gets tough.

Then I looked at my daughter, aged 3, her life all ahead of her. And I wondered what it is I want for her.

And what I want for her is pretty simple, really; it’s what I want for my  boys, too. I want her to be confident and happy in herself, enough to deflect any meanness, thoughtlessness or cruelty that comes her way. I want her to have every opportunity, to have no roads closed to her. And I want her, ultimately, to choose the path that fulfils her, that makes her happy. That could mean being a high court judge; it could mean setting up her own craft business in a cottage somewhere; it could mean raising a huge brood of children. Perhaps it could involve all three – we’re living so much longer these days and the idea of doing the same thing for our entire working lives is surely going to be outdated soon.

What I don’t want is anyone telling her what she wants, or what she should do, because of their own insecurities, because of dogma, extreme politics or religion. These things try to impose control over us, and we need to fight it, whether those controlling impulses are directed at women, men, children, other nationalities or anyone else.

So maybe that’s where feminism needs to direct its energies these days. Not at men, who were never the enemy, but at dogma, at control, at barriers, whoever they are imposed on. Even if they are directed at the man behind Rights for Men and Boys. Actually, particularly if they are directed at him. Perhaps then he might realise that we’re all in this together. Perhaps then he might let us all make our own minds up about what we want to do with our lives.