A chilling series in which the adult population of a small town in California suddenly disappears, leaving the youth to fend for themselves,'Michael Grants Gone'books have made a splash in the YA world.

Given their dark themes, its perhaps unsurprising that the books'have invited comparison with some of the groundbreaking dystopian novels of the last century, but Grant is quite firm in noting that any similarities are coincidence rather than a deliberate effort to reference these seminal works.

To be absolutely honest, I wasnt consciously drawing on anything except perhaps the TV show'Lost'and Stephen King in a more general way, he says. I was surprised to realise halfway through Gone that I was doing a sort of riff on Lord of the Flies.

Though he is certainly aware of the works of authors such as Orwell, Huxley and John Wyndham, he strives to avoid being influenced by other writers. In my case I actively avoid anything I think draws on another writers work. 'The main reason for this is quite selfish: 'its not fun for me unless I believe what Im doing is original. 'Obviously that belief is sometimes delusional or arises from my own ignorance, but Im generally horrified to discover Im writing anything derivative.

Of course, timing can play a role in whether a work is seen as piggybacking on something else. For example, Grant has had readers suggest that Gone'might have been inspired by The Simpsons Movie, in which the town of Springfield is enclosed by a large glass dome like that found in Gone.

My immediate'reaction to that is irritation. 'The movie came out just about a year before Gone'and given the time frames involved it means Id have submitted the book months before the movie. 'At the same time Stephen King was concerned at one point that hed be seen as having been inspired by Gone for Under the Dome, an idea hed begun work on years ago.

Its not just Grants Gone'series thats currently making waves in the YA world. His latest work, BZRK, is a gritty thriller in the vein of William Gibson, and has been released as a multiplatform, transmedia project, with a variety of digital options being used to extend the reach of the print material.

It is in no way necessary to the books, in that if you read the book you will not need to rely on the transmedia, he says. But if you read the book and wish to have a bit more fun with it we do have the transmediathe web site, alternate reality game and appavailable.

Grant was involved in the transmedia effort, and has been delighted by the support he received from his publisher Egmont throughout such a challenging endeavour.

I''may well do more in the future having now benefited from the experience of this first effort, he says. But I remain primarily a book author, and very happy to be focusing on that.

Michael Grant is currently participating in a blog tour to celebrate the release of Fear, the fifth book in the Gone'series. To follow the tour, visit the tour website. Michael is also active on Facebook and Twitter.

The book trailer for'Fear, which well be reviewing shortly:

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