Laura Solomon: Four years. I wrote the stories between 2003 and 2007 while working full-time in IT.

LS: No. I was simply entering competitions and sending stories away to magazines. By 2007 I had enough for a collection, so thought I should shop it round the Independent Publishers in the UK.

LS: I had twice as many stories written as are in Alternative Medicine. I picked what I thought were the strongest to include in the collection. I wanted to start with the story Alternative Medicine'as it is the title of the collection and one of the stronger stories. I wanted to end with Halloween in the Antipodes, as I feel that the image of the Jack O'Lantern trying to find his way home is a good/vaguely haunting way to end.

TSR: What does the word "story" mean to you?

LS:  A decent story should hook the reader in, deliver something new, and hopefully deliver some "truth" (disguised as a lie). And be well written, of course.

TSR: Do you have a "reader" in mind when you write stories?

LS:  When writing AM, I was writing the kind of stories that I would like to read. Now, however, I am working on a book for young adults, so I am bearing a young adult audience in mind.

TSR: Is there anything you'd like to ask someone who has read your collection, anything at all?

LS: Did you enjoy the stories? What did you like/dislike? Which was your favourite story?

TSR: How does it feel knowing that people are buying your book?

LS: Good. I hope they're selling. It took me 10 years to get a book published in the UK. I hope people are enjoying it.

TSR: What are you working on now?

LS: A novel for young adults, set in Peckham.

TSR: What are the three most recent short story collections you've read?