Author Profile

(241 words / 1407 characters)

What do you get when you cross a scifi geek with an emerging technology consultant?

The answer? The SimCavalier near future thrillers, and a growing catalogue of short stories that include the odd SimCavalier prequel, some standalone tales, and the adventures of Finch, a naïve young avian on a rite of passage round-the-galaxy trip.

My first books were non-fiction (if you're into blockchain and cryptocurrency, check out Blockchain Hurricane and other titles). When I was asked to co-author a cybersecurity book in 2016, a friend suggested that it might be less dry as fiction. Cameron Silvera and the Argentum Associates team burst into life and the whole process of writing fiction has become a real joy. One of my biggest challenges is making sure that the future technology I invent doesn't find its way into reports for real live clients - but the future is getting closer all the time.

As for inspirations, I've been embedded in scifi since childhood. My first glimpse of the Daleks from behind the sofa pulled me into new worlds, and I never left. As a child I wrote my own Dr Who and Star Wars stories and occasional scripts on an old typewriter in my bedroom, and I read my dad’s collection of Tolkein, Wyndham, Bradbury and others, then discovered Iain Banks and David Brin, Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman. I'm still reading and learning and letting my imagination run wild.