I went to sea almost straight from school, after a wonderful summer playing guitar in a rock band, touring Liverpool and the coastal towns of North Wales. Then I spent eighteen years on various ships and boats. I visited dozens of countries, including one whole blissful year island-hopping in the Caribbean, and it was exactly how I used to dream it would be during those long afternoon lessons at school. 

My naval career ended when I was medically discharged in my mid-30s, poleaxed by fibromyalgia and severe ME. A physical man with an active mind trapped in a damaged body, I came home to my wife and our three young daughters, and we started on the road to my recovery. It was a long road.  Two years of near-paralysis followed by several years bedbound (cue Snow Patrol's Chasing Cars), then into a wheelchair for a few years (Bring Me To Life - Evanescence), then up on two sticks, then one stick (Queen's We Will Rock You), and all the time taking one step forward and one or two or three back, suffering relapse after relapse (What Is And What Should Never Be - LedZep). It's classic fibro/ME. Pretty grim in lots of ways, but balanced by unexpected blessings - one of which is the freedom to write.

I set about learning the trade at the same time as I worked to get back on my feet. I'd written bits and pieces while at sea: satirical (and often anonymous and deniable, therefore) poetry, short stories, an attempt at a novel (don't ask...). But once on the beach I took it seriously. This would be my new career.

I started with poetry. Not the daft stuff I used to dash off and pin to notice boards in the navy, but serious attempts to explore the universe from a sickbed. I still write poetry, but I'm easier with it nowadays. It's no big deal. I simply enjoy it.

So, from poetry, through plays and short stories, and finally to my first novel: fugue, which is commercial fiction filled with romantic elements, contemporary fantasy, and historical mystery.

fugue is finished now, and we're on the 'Find The Perfect Literary Agent' trail.

This year I'm writing Quarter Square, which is the first novel in my Wild Times urban fantasy series, and a collection of magical realism stories under the title of Sudbucket.

Sometimes people ask me how I can be so happy when I have a long-term illness, but I don't really understand the question. How could I not be happy? I'm surrounded by my loved ones, I've been to sea and travelled all over the world, and now I'm an author. Life is bloody wonderful!