The Lowdown with... Jonathan Oliver

Jonathan Oliver is the multi-award winning editor of End of the Line, Magic, House of Fear,

Dangerous Games and The End of the Road.When he’s not being editor-in-chief of Solaris, Abaddon Books and Ravenstone he tinkers with words. He lives with his family in Abingdon, Oxfordshire.

1.       Tell us three things about yourself.

My Dad is a retired Anglican priest and my Mum is a psychiatrist.

I used to be a stand-up comedian.

A glove puppet called Thomas Pigotti lives on my desk at work.

2.       What was the first thing you had published?

Lord, that’s a hard one. I think it was my story 'Punchline', but I can’t remember what the publication was called. It was a while ago now.

3.       Which piece of writing are you proudest of?

I think the last few years I’ve got a lot more focused (though not any more prolific) and I’m most fond, at the moment, of my story 'White Horse' in The Alchemy Book of Urban Mythic.

4.       …and which makes you cringe?

Anything from my teenage years. There were the obligatory years of bad poetry. And I’m sure if I went and looked back at some of the odd stand-up material there may be things there...

5.       What’s a normal writing day like?

There is no normal writing day. I work full time and we have two pre-school-age

daughters, so I write when I can, which isn’t as often as I like,

but then I’m also quite lazy.

  6.       Which piece of writing should someone who’s never read you before pick up first?

I’d go with 'White Horse.'

7.       What are you working on now? 

I’m writing a very very gruesome horror story, but also working on a novel collaboration which will be very different to most things I’ve done.