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Born on Saturday 24 January 1970, I moved from the Portsmouth area to live in Southampton in 1993, having married. My early time in Portsmouth is still a topic to be avoided when meeting Southampton football club supporters. Indeed the Pompey chimes still ring in my mind occasionally.
I was educated at a military type boarding school in darkest Suffolk, where I learnt to dislike bullying, restrictions on character growth and institutionalism. The attempts to make men of us put me off the forces for life. At school I found I had a leaning towards the arts, particularly History and English literature. I took a degree in Political science at a university in the north of England, in line with my ambition to be a foreign correspondent for a national newspaper.
Today, while I still retain these interests, I am fascinated with technology and its possibilities. The diet of science fiction I read when young - classic Asimov and Clarke - did not prepare me for the realities of modern science and technology and, more interestingly, what lies beyond it.
When I was twenty I became seriously ill and was diagnosed with a genetic disorder. A doctor once explained it to me as a single spelling mistake in a large dictionary - only the consequences are more devastating. Von Hippel Lindau (VHL) disease is a genetic cancer. I have had several tumours caused by VHL, one of which nearly took my life in 1992. I did survive, but only after 6 months of paranoia and nightmares. there are still times when my perceptions sharpen and the demons return.
My interest in writing stems back to my love affair with books when young. As far back as I can remember I have wanted to write. The ambition still remains. I have turned my hand to non -fiction, poetry, children's stories and short stories. A novel is in progress.
At the moment I am completing diploma/MA in Information management, which looks at the constantly changing world of information and what it means to people. My wife jokes as to which of us will complete a doctorate first. My ambitions lie elsewhere: in publication.
- Articles, stories and poerty...
- While Dragons Sleep - Part 3, Autumn 1997
- Walking in Applewood Gardens - Poem, Autumn 1997
- Blind light, Poem Autumn 1997
- DIY - Poem - Summer 1997
- Disapointment -Poem - Summer 1997
- Lyrics - Poem - Summer 1997
- SunBurn - Poem - Summer 1997
- The Smile - Poem - Summer 1997
- The Last Dragon - Short story for younger readers - Summer 1997
- While Dragons Sleep - part 2 of short novel - Summer 1997
- A Recipe - Spring 1997
- Turtle Soup - Spring 1997
- Commuter - Spring 1997
- Motion - Spring 1997
- Fate - Spring 1997
- While Dragons Sleep - Spring 1997
- Full Circle - Winter 1996
- Ozymandias - Winter 1996
- The Preacher's Son - Winter 1996
- The Researchers - Winter 1996
- The poem and the pen - Winter 1996
- Sovereign - Winter 1996
- Ever song - Winter 1996
- Today - Autumn 1996
- Look Closer - Autumn 1996
- On Becoming Me - Summer 1996
Pompey - local slang for Portsmouth Football Club - Return to Article.