Welcome to the world, REAPER!

I’m officially a published author!

My debut day was a success. I’d planned to do something small (just pop into Dishoom), but my loved ones had other plans.

Everyone had recorded congratulation messages and they were put into a 30 min video - even one of my work colleagues was involved!

Afterwards, my husband took me to the Renaissance Hotel, which is where Gerald lives, for afternoon tea.

And then, my husband surprised me by taking me up to the clocktower apartment - Gerald’s actual home! A kind, wealthy eccentric called Peter lives there. He’s obsessed with clocktowers and is so proud of his home that he opens it up for viewings and events from time to time. I spent the afternoon wandering around Gerald’s house - and just like in the book, there’s a spiral staircase and a library on the mezzanine floor. Photos are on my Instagram.

I trawled around London, checking into as many places as possible that feature in the books. In Covent Garden, I popped into Penhaligon’s, which is one of the places Amy senses Gerald’s aura. In The Reaper, a mage works there. I didn’t see any mages this time, but the shop assistant chose Gerald’s signature scent: Halfeti.

We did go to Dishoom, King’s Cross, to commemorate the events in the first chapter of the book, but we weren’t alone: I was joined by my friends Dami, Akil, Tyrone, and Tobi.

Over the weekend, The Reaper steadily scaled the Amazon bestseller list in Horror Fantasy, and I broke into the top 100, alongside some truly amazing authors.

The Reaper was featured in The Guardian’s roundup of the best recent science fiction, fantasy, and horror - a crazy achievement for a debut!

I got lots of flowers: a chocolate bouquet from my sister Rox, and traditional flowers from my sister Con, from Del Rey, and from Molly and United Agents.

I’ve heard about the “debut blues” which is a mental crash that happens a few days after a book release. So far I’m blues-free. I feel delirious more than anything.

I’ll be outside quite a bit this summer! So hopefully I’ll see some of you at the various book events happening over the next few months.

Thank you to friends old and new for making this day so memorable!