I was driving down the south coast, radio on, when I heard a reggae song in which there was a lyric about 'putting on my iron shirt and going out to fight the devil'. The image this line stayed with me the rest of the trip and when I arrived at my weekend retreat to focus on writing a novel, I found myself writing "Iron Shirt" instead.  

I liked the idea of mixing a medieval style of punishment into a futuristic context. The power of the church in this story reflects, to a degree, my own concerns about the rise of religious conservatism in society.  

Oh, and the love story bit... well who of us hasn't loved out of alignment at some stage or other?

  — Susan Wardle, November 2006