During the writing of "Fall of Kings" which, if any scenes, have been particularly difficult to write?

Nevertheless, as an untried writer as far as the publishers were concerned, I was still reluctant to suggest to Transworld that I finish it. When I finally plucked up courage and put it to Selina Walker, Dave's editor, she was pleased and said she had not suggested it to me thus far only because she thought it would be too hard for me emotionally. In fact, it's just what I needed emotionally - a project that would keep me meaningfully occupied, and still working with my wonderful Dave.

But I found the work very hard. There's a great difference between writing the odd scene to order - which, as a journalist, I found fairly easy - and writing off my own initiative. I had never written a battle scene before, for instance, and one of my first moves was to research Dave's own books to find out how to construct one. Nervously, I ran all the major fight scenes past James Barclay (so we all know who to blame for any mistakes!). It sounds like a cliche, but I would not have been able to manage without the unstinting support of all our friends, fellow writers, Selina, who's been at my side every step of the way, and Dave's agent Howard Morhaim. And from last July 28 until the present Transworld have vindicated what Dave always said about them - they're the best publishers a writer could possibly ask for.

Fall of Kings is finished now. I submitted the edited draft two weeks ago. Dave's fans were never backwards in coming forwards with their opinion, and I'll find out what they think in September.

2) During the writing of "Fall of Kings" which, if any scenes, have been particularly difficult to write?

Yes, well, battle scenes. When she heard I was finishing Fall of Kings, a friend of mine told me, 'But Stella, you don't know a broadsword from a broad bean!' which I thought was a bit unfair. But it is true that I'd read a thousand Gemmell battle scenes without ever really thinking about the craft involved. I'd just thought, I suppose, 'Well that's just one of the things Dave's good at.' It's not like that, of course. He was good at battle scenes, the best - in his early years because he loved writing them, and in his later years because he'd had so much experience. But every word was measured, and every move planned - as his friends know - in this office I'm sitting in, with the swords and daggers and axes, and handguns and rifles and, oh, one tomahawk and one crossbow. But it was a steep learning curve for me.