Nikki Gemmell wants to challenge herself as a writer so her latest is a colonial gothic horror called The Ripping Tree, written over seven years while raising four children.

Meanwhile, Emily Maguire tackles hoarding, consent and climate change in Love Objects, a novel that also celebrates the intense love people can feel for children that are not their own. And Martin McKenzie-Murray explains the inspiration for The Speechwriter, a satire set in the near future featuring rogue, sentient PlayStations.