Gifted

The novel was originally called Spellbinder. Actually, since it was about a teenage forensic sorcerer, my first idea had been Spellbound; but Alfred Hitchcock had kind of got there first…

Then my old chum and former Dr Who script editor Chris Bidmead took the trouble to Google “Spellbinder” and came up with far too many hits. So by the time I started submitting the customary first three chapters to UK literary agencies, in January 2011, the book was called Contiguity.

(For what it’s worth, as of April 2014 “spellbinder” throws up 661,000 results, and “contiguity” 354,000. My recollection is that a few years back the difference was greater.)

So what is contiguity, anyway? Well, as Frank, my sorcerer, explains to his pal Marvo:

‘Sympathetic magic. First law: the Law of Similarity. A sorcerer can produce an effect by imitating it. That’s how most curses work. You make a wax doll to look like somebody; then when you stick pins in the doll, the victim feels the pain.’

‘That don’t work though.’

‘Done right, you can kill somebody.’

‘Have you?’

I do my enigmatic smile and put my fists together, knuckles touching. ‘Second law: the Law of Contiguity. When any object comes into contact with another, they establish a physical affinity – they remember each other.’ I move my fists apart. ‘When they’re separated, the contiguity weakens over time, but never completely disappears. If you pick up a pebble on a beach, that creates a contiguity. You can throw it out to sea, but the affinity between you and that pebble persists.’

‘What’s the difference between contiguity an’ affinity?’

‘No difference. Contiguity’s the technical term. I use “affinity” sometimes to avoid tiresome repetition. So that pebble you threw away, right? I could identify it eventually, by picking up every pebble in reach and testing it.’

‘That’d take for ever!’

‘More usefully, if someone gives me a pebble I can tell if you’ve ever handled it.’

Eventually I was persuaded that, as a title, Contiguity could only cause confusion and discontent, and I reverted to Spellbinder. But this was never quite right; apart from anything else, it had been the title of an Australian-Polish fantasy teen drama/science fiction television series, back in 1995.

Random House took the book on and it went through a series of edits that significantly improved it. We also looked at the title. Lists were drawn up: Headlong, Juggling Heads, Missing a Trick, The Righteous Brother, Sorcery for Beginners, Spelled Out, Misspelled, Magic and Mayhem, Charm and Charisma… Do you sense the whiff of desperation? The grownups felt, however, that they didn’t want a title that pointed directly at magic, and eventually we went for Gifted…

It’s currently being typeset and is due out at the beginning of 2015.