All my life, I’ve always loved stories and music! This is me, seven, I think. You might imagine I was a wild child, and in some ways, in my imaginative world, at least, I probably was.
I grew up in the ’70s and ’80s, which was an absolutely fantastic time. My generation got the very first video games when we were young, video rental stores too. I was almost always reading a book, out playing with my mates, or glued to the screen watching movies and playing games on my ZX Spectrum.
I learned to play guitar.
I learned to love stories.
Honestly speaking, life after school seems a bit of a blur. I did loads of crap jobs that were going nowhere and spent the rest of my time playing in bands and writing songs.
Eventually I qualified as an IT Analyst and it soon turned out that wasn’t fulfilling in any way. During one gap between contracts, I decided I’d write a novel. I did it in three weeks. And suddenly, I realised exactly what I wanted to do with the rest of my life.
And so I decided to go to Ruskin College, Oxford, to do the Cert HE there in Creative Writing and English Literature, and had what was possibly the greatest year of my life.
Then, I went to Bath Spa to do the BA in Creative Writing.
And as I am a glutton for punishment, I also did an MA in Creative Writing: the Novel, at Brunel University.
Now, all I do is write. Day after day. There’s barely a spare minute. It’s honestly like an addiction.
I write stories that stick the finger up at the algorithm and to unthinking extremist sensitivities. I liked things better when novels didn’t give trigger warnings and apologise for themselves. And those are the books I write.
If you don’t like swearing, violence or sex where they would happen in real life, my books probably aren’t for you.
But if you like having your heart broken and mended while you laugh your arse off? Welcome in!
Damian