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In 1989, my father died after a prolonged struggle with Alzheimer's disease. All four of his siblings followed him into the shadow lands of that fascinating, maddening affliction.

Death is present every day in our lives. It's not that I take pleasure in the morbid fascination of it, but it is a fact of life.

I've worked very hard to become comfortable with how death works and why it happens. I now know that death isn't out to get me.

I really don't know where my interest in death comes from. Maybe I've just got a twisted imagination. The truth is, I haven't had a hugely eventful life - maybe I'm compensating in my creative life. Or maybe I'm just a bit sick.

When I was young, my parents were these titanic, infallible figures. But Mum's illness and Dad's battles with diabetes and heart attacks had a ripple effect on me - reminding me of my own mortality and that these illnesses are genetic.

I didn't know it, but my father had a brain tumour. Everything happened very fast. Within a year, he was gone. Because I was so young, I didn't completely understand the concept of death.

Coming to terms with the fear of death is conducive to healing, positive personality transformation, and consciousness evolution.

Death has always had a prominent place in my mind. There are times when I think somebody might kill me.

At the age of 16, my father's father dropped dead of a heart attack. And I think it changed the course of his life, and he became fascinated with death. He then became a medical doctor and obviously fought death tooth and nail for his patients.

I was fascinated by mortality. Most people are, even if they don't admit it.