

I tend to be picky and take my time reading a book I expect each word to count. Fiction, mainly, though I don’t necessarily go for detective fiction, or anything formulaic – I still recognise there’s real skill involved in any composition of the genre, something I don’t think I’d ever master. To ask me what I like to read and write about is a tough one. I’m now working my way toward making a living by writing, with a little translation on the side… I came back to England in the mid-00s and lived in North London for five years, teaching and writing again.Īnd for the last three years, I’ve lived in Norwich, where I’ve completed a Masters in Literary Translation, at the UEA. I then moved up to northern France to do much the same thing.īut it was here where I also began to write, or experiment with writing.

In time, I fell in love with the idea of languages, French in particular, and went on to get a BA Hons in French Language and Literature with subsidiary Spanish at The University of Sheffield.Īfter that, I moved down south – mid 90s, and eventually further down to the South of France for a few years, where I taught English. My academic education came much later, from scratch, in a sense. One reason I mention this is because it’s around this time and place that my first novel is set – Wood, Talc and Mr.J. I say circuit, although that mainly consisted of trips to Wigan’s ‘Casino Club’ just about every weekend, with the odd trip to other venues interspersed. I spent – or misspent, whichever your viewpoint – the majority of my ‘young’ years on the Northern Soul circuit. I was born and bred in the city of steel: Sheffield. So, I’m Chris and it’s lovely to meet you. J, set in 1970s northern England, to which each of these posts refers, by way of comparing its numerous themes with how we might view them today… Who knows, he may even persuade you to purchase his debut novel, Wood Talc & Mr. Sometimes he’s amused sometimes he’s bemused.Īnd sometimes, well, he’s completely flummoxed… What you’ll find here are 22 of his favourite posts carefully chosen from his own website, and from a writer who never claims to own the answers to his queries and observations, but who simply articulates them as they, seemingly, seek to trip him over – he’s adept enough at tripping over his own shoe-laces.

Maybe that one is down to you, the reader. And to generally find his way around in the attempt all with the lofty dream of becoming a known author an author of merit and for the right reasons: to bring literature back down to earth… to a place like, say, where fangs are still utilized for ripping into more traditional foods. An author from another time, endeavouring to unearth space in today’s cyber world – and hopefully be less ambiguous with his planetarian/galactic metaphors.
