At least that’s what it says on the dust jacket of my books. But if you’re looking at this page I guess you want a little more information, so…

I was born in 1973 and wanted to write from an early age. At school I had the same English teacher as Douglas Adams. I went to London University and although I didn’t enjoy my time there it did allow me to read widely, everything from Anglo-Saxon poetry to the post-modern novel. I wrote my dissertation on Conrad.

After university I lived and worked all over the world. For several years Brazil was home; then Egypt. During this whole period I wrote constantly. My first serious attempt to get published began in 1997 though it was to be another twelve years till I secured a deal. It’s the one thing I say to all unpublished novelists: you need perseverance!

As a writer I’m drawn to what I think of as ‘mythic’ storytelling and fantastic realism. I suspect this comes from my earliest influences. I have a Greek family background and was brought up on tales of the Gods, Odysseus and Theseus. I was also part of the ‘Star Wars generation’ and loved the westerns of Sergio Leone.

I became a writer because of the books I read, so perhaps the most revealing thing I can do is share my influences with you. Along with Greek and Norse mythology,  some of my favourite writers are:

Margaret Atwood, Balzac, William Boyd, Joseph Campbell, Dickens, George Eliot, F Scott Fitzgerald, George MacDonald Fraser, Sarah Hall, Robert Harris, early James Herbert (he went off the boil for me after The Magic Cottage), Homer, MR James, Milan Kundera, George Orwell, John Sullivan, Sarah Waters and HG Wells. You can find a list of my ten favourite books by clicking here.

Film has been the great solace of my life and has always informed my writing. I’ll watch anything, but favourite directors and movies include:

2001: A Space Odyssey, Aliens, Woody Allen, Akira Kurosawa, Apocalypse Now, The Game (massively underrated, and in my opinion Fincher’s best film), Werner Herzog, the Indiana Jones films (especially Raiders but please not Crystal Skull!), Kill Bill, Stanley Kubrick, Laurel & Hardy, David Lean (in particular Lawrence and Brief Encounter… as readers of TMP may have noted), Sergio Leone (The Good, the Bad & the Ugly is probably my favourite film), the Mad Max films, Metropolis, Christopher Nolan, Powell & Pressburger, Martin Scorsese (Goodfellas and The Departed), the original Star Wars trilogy (though like many of my age the prequels left me cold; and I’m still waiting to see about the new Disney films), Steven Spielberg (if I was pressed on a favourite Spielberg, I’d probably say Catch Me If You Can or Munich), Tyrannosaur, The Third Man and Vertigo.