SHARON BOLTON

Whenever I find myself in an exceptionally beautiful environment, I can't help asking myself - what lies beneath? I'm fascinated by the idea of a perfect surface concealing a rotten core.

I learned the hard way that people are quick to judge, will jump at the chance of a cheap ego boost at another's expense.

On the advice of my U.K. publishers, I chose a sexless anonymity and published my first five books under the semi-pseudonym, S. J. Bolton. I was happy. I could hide behind a genderless, classless persona and let my creepy, psychological murder-mysteries speak for themselves.

My first novel, 'Sacrifice,' was set on the Shetland Islands.

On an island, anything can happen. In a crime novel, it usually does.

Crime writers adore islands. We love the sense of being trapped within a community apart, where normal codes of behavior, if not ignored, can be allowed to slip.

Our names are an integral part of the faces we show to the world. If we're judged first on outward appearances, we're assessed next on our names.

I've never once corrected someone who got my name wrong.

'The Magus,' usually described as a book for the young, is about learning that the world is a mysterious and limitless place, beyond our control, and all the more exciting - and daunting - because of it.

I learned the hard way that people are quick to judge, will jump at the chance of a cheap ego boost at another's expense.

Our names are an integral part of the faces we show to the world. If we're judged first on outward appearances, we're assessed next on our names.

My first novel, 'Sacrifice,' was set on the Shetland Islands.

Crime writers adore islands. We love the sense of being trapped within a community apart, where normal codes of behavior, if not ignored, can be allowed to slip.

On an island, anything can happen. In a crime novel, it usually does.

On the advice of my U.K. publishers, I chose a sexless anonymity and published my first five books under the semi-pseudonym, S. J. Bolton. I was happy. I could hide behind a genderless, classless persona and let my creepy, psychological murder-mysteries speak for themselves.

Whenever I find myself in an exceptionally beautiful environment, I can't help asking myself - what lies beneath? I'm fascinated by the idea of a perfect surface concealing a rotten core.

I've never once corrected someone who got my name wrong.

'The Magus,' usually described as a book for the young, is about learning that the world is a mysterious and limitless place, beyond our control, and all the more exciting - and daunting - because of it.