I've been writing for years. Years and years. Every now and then I try to get something published, and I think I get closer every time. Authors I enjoy: Philip Pullman, Roger Zelazny, Anthony Burgess, George RR Martin, Alfred Bester, Terry Pratchett, William Kotzwinkle, Alexander McCall-Smith - the list could go on for ever. I write because I enjoy it. I enjoy people reading what I've written even more.

The reason I put words up on fictionpress is to garner feedback. If you read something I wrote and you liked it, please leave a review or PM me. If you didn't like it, same applies. Tell me what's wrong with it.

At present I'm living in rural New Zealand, and I don't have many neighbours, so I'd consider any comments quite neighbourly, if you see what I mean. I plug away at about 700 words a day, 5,000 a week. I write fantasy mostly, but there's a great Science Fiction work in there somewhere, slowly maturing.

One recent recommendation - The House of Silk - Anthony Horowitz (The new Sherlock Holmes novel). As a fan of the original Conan Doyle stories I have to say that I think Horowitz got it just about right. The tone is almost perfect, and he's added a little melancholy of his own to the mix. Good book.

Someone once told me that if you write, you should write the book you want to read, and that's what I've done. I try to focus on character and plot, which is sometimes a challenge because the characters don't always want to do what I want, and things happen that I don't expect. If you have read "The Seventh Friend" you'll probably understand what I mean when I say that one of my characters was supposed to die in the first chapter he appeared, but he went on to become a major player, and one of my personal favorites. Such is life. One thing I don't do is describe every shoe, belt, cloak, meal, candle, custom and face. You, the readers, need to have a little room to manoever, and some writers don't give you that these days.

Well, I hope that you enjoy at least a part of what I write, and I realy do welcome any comments. Even from budding Simon Cowells.