We spoke to Kathy Stockwin (Mrs Kydd) about her life with Julian, his writing and the introduction of a new member to their family.

How did you and Julian meet?
Well, back in the mid 1970s two young psychologists met at Tasmania's Education Department Assessment Centre.

But there's a bit more to the story than that... I'd had my driving licence two days, just driven my first car 200 miles and narrowly escaped from having a nasty accident - I was a bit of a nervous wreck when I arrived. I had come for an interview with my boss, the head of the Centre, but he had been called away on some urgent matter so I was sent to the staff room to have a coffee while I waited.

I saw this tall, dark man looking at me. It was only later that I found out that he thought I was one of the young adolescent females who were sometimes referred there for psychiatric counselling. He came up to me and in a very paternal way asked me what my problem was and could he help. Not the best way to start a relationship with the very independent young woman I then was! Julian persevered, though, and he eventually connived for the two of us to be sent to one of the remote schools in the south of the island which involved an overnight stay because of the distance. Separate rooms of course! However, things did take off after that and we were married in 1976.

Do you share Julian's passion for the sea and have you spent much time with him at sea?
I sometimes think Julian has salt water coursing through his veins - he has such a deep and abiding love of the sea. Through him, I have grown to appreciate man's relationship to the sea, and in particular I share his admiration for the skills and courage of the eighteenth century seamen. Last year we spent some time sailing in the Irish Sea in a three-masted barque, which was a wonderful experience. But given my druthers, I would rather sail in my imagination, via his writing.

Julian has said it was you who persuaded him to have a go at writing...How did you spot his potential?
That's true but I didn't really have a lot to go on, initially. I think there are two main reasons why I felt he could write. The first is his great passion for and knowledge about the sea, built up over half a lifetime. The other was a feeling, a sense I had, that there was a great talent there. Perhaps this came from my experience as a commissioning editor, perhaps from the incredible letters he used to write. I don't really know. The funny thing is that once the books came out many people told me they weren't surprised. One of our nieces back in Australia still remembers Julian entrancing her with wonderful stories when she was very, very small.

You are obviously a close team, so what what stage in the writing does Julian show you the script?
We are still evolving the way we work together in a creative partnership, and this is great fun. Both of us feed off the other in many ways. Let me tell you about a typical working day for us. We're both "morning" people so are at our desks around 7:30. Julian starts "buzzing" as he has his shower and he does not need a great deal of effort to take himself back into Kydd's world. In the early stages of his developing as a writer he felt he needed to show me his work much more often than he does now. We walk and talk the plot together and perhaps because of Julian's previous career as a software designer, he does like to have things planned out. Having said that he delights in writing that constantly surprises and intrigues me in the way the plot takes twists and turns. Unless he particularly wants my opinion on a certain passage he will write a self-contained amount, often a chapter, before showing me. I then work on that quite closely and suggest edits, changes, tightening, whatever - and then we action these together. At first it was quite difficult on both sides, (a lot of blue pencil and blue air) but now he trusts my judgement. When the manuscript is finished I then go through the whole book, for a final fine-tune editing before we submit it to Julian's editor Carolyn Mays.

Your research travels sound exotic! In your opinion which has been the best place to visit so far - for you and Julian, and do you look for the same things?
It has to be Venice, which we visited in January for research for the book MUTINY - a truly magical city. We were very fortunate to be there in the off-season so there were very few tourists and we were easily able to transport ourselves back in time to what Kydd and Renzi will experience.
When we do location research we have a pretty good grasp of the plot in a broad sense, and we know what we want from museums, libraries etc. as well as physical locations. Julian of course is very interested in minute detail about things like sailing craft and sea lore. I am fascinated by social aspects - what did people eat and drink, health and disease patterns, that sort of thing.
So in some ways we do look for the same things, but each of us has definite areas of interest that we like to delve into more deeply.

Where are you off to next?
Julian's American publisher Scribner is bringing us over the States in July for an 8-city tour. As well as press and speaking engagements, it will be a great opportunity to do some location research for future books and we may make a side trip to Canada.

Do you feel as if Kydd is part of the family yet?
The world of Thomas Kydd is so real to both of us now that it is like a parallel universe. Kydd and Renzi are both our "creations" and people we are privileged to know.

Geoff Hunt, who has produced the wonderful cover art for the series, started sending emails to "Mr and Mrs Kydd" - a rather nice conceit.