Both of my Renaissance books feature characters who are alchemists, and they are two of my most favourite creations. What is alchemy? It is the aggregation of art, science - and hope. Alchemists were obsessed with two things: turning base metal into gold and finding the secret of immortality. Both of which, I am sure you will agree, require a large side order of wishful thinking! And that is why alchemy appeals so much to me: I am a wishful thinker of the first rank, an eternal striver, not an optimist so much as a hope-timist. For alchemists, as for me, life is always yet to come.