Author of six suspense novels... Brilliant, raven-haired psychic... Saw her first ghost at age four... Likes to take midnight rides on horseback and practices levitation twice a day... OK, the part about the levitation and the horses is made up. The 'raven-haired psychic' description might be slightly over the top as well. And I haven't seen a ghost yet, but I plan to. The bit about the suspense novels is true. I live in London and I write dark, psychological thrillers with a strong dash of mysticism and the paranormal. My fourth book, SEASON OF THE WITCH, is a modern gothic thriller about techgnosis and the Art of Memory and has won the Book to Talk About: World Book Day Award 2009. Even though my books deal with subjects that are otherworldly, I like to keep the narrative firmly rooted in reality and my research is rigorous. My interest in mysticism started in early childhood when I was growing up in South Africa. My aia (nanny) was a Zulu woman who introduced me to African legends and the world of the insangoma (witch doctors). For many years I thought she was the coolest person on the planet and tried to emulate her in every way. I remember exasperating my mother by stacking bricks below each corner of the bed to keep out of reach of the tokkelosh - an evil gnome with an enormous head but very short legs! Years later I would write about this in my debut novel, THE MIDNIGHT SIDE. I now write full-time. I am working on my seventh novel, titled WHISPER and have recently sold my first Hollywood screenplay. Previous jobs include selling shoes, teaching Afrikaans at a South African university and moonlighting as a project coordinator in the publishing department of a public television station in New York City. If you care to visit my website, www.natashamostert.com, you will find notes on how I plot my books, questions for book clubs and links to YouTube videos. You may also wish to try your hand at one of my games. The SEASON OF THE WITCH Memory Game is based on alchemy and will tax your power of recollection. THE KEEPER Game is martial-arts based and takes the form of a fun personality quiz. Discover if you are a Warrior, a Healer or a Thief... PRAISE FOR NATASHA MOSTERT 'Bedtime reading for the brave' The Times (London) 'Intellectual meets Paranormal' Graffiti 'Goth SF at its finest' Publishers Weekly (Starred review) 'one of the most original voices on the literary scene... a master wordsmith' Glamour Magazine 'a brain-squeezing thriller' Kirkus (Starred review) 'hauntingly elegant' Booklist 'Highly accomplished' Toronto Globe and Mail 'A unique, wild imagination' Bangor Chronicle 'Classy psychic thriller...original, unsettling... kicks the usual preconceptions into shape' The Literary Review