The idea for 'The Book Of Hosts' dates back to the mid 1980s; around the time of the other 'object' pieces such as 'The Dark Bulb' and 'The Bone Walking Stick'. However, while those and other pieces cost very little to make, The Book Of Hosts required a fairly substantial outlay, if it was to made in the way I had envisaged it.

Finding consecration wafers that would be large enough to make the blank pages was also a major problem back then - before the days of the internet and search engines - but the major cost involved would be the creation of an embossed leather book-cover and spine; something that really needed to be done by a professional bookbinder.

And so it was that the idea lay dormant in a notebook for nearly thirty years, until I finally had the both the finance and the information sources to assemble its component parts.

The house in the story does exist; as does the small bar to the side of the Crinan Hotel; where evenings have been spent reflecting on the light of Loch Crinan and the passing of time.