"A life lived in fear is a life half lived."

A life lived in the grey places between fear and boredom is, in my opinion, much worse.

I'm British and currently living in Prague... this last year has been an interesting adventure...

I'm also not an alcoholic. I promise. My photos may indicate otherwise, but it's just a happy coincidence.

I'm a writer, and I'll always be a writer, even if I never publish a thing. Any jobs I have along the way are merely for the experience and to keep me going financially. I'm also very interested in politics on the liberal side of things... this affects almost everything I do.

I'm a musician, and I write my own songs, but my fiction comes first.

I'm a qualified English Language teacher. That's what I've been doing in Prague... along with causing general mayhem.

One day I hope to direct films. I have the equipment (well, some of the equipment) and the ideas. I need volunteers to act. I can't act.

I've also been involved with various sports including one at a national level. Most people assume I'm not at all sporty, and lecture me on how I should be going to the gym or playing squash like they do. If only they knew...

I'm good at writing. Mainly fiction... but also essays. I generally stay away from blogs*, because everyone has one nowadays and my everyday thoughts are jumbled into my fiction anyway.

The most important thing to learn, I think, is that you can never master anything entirely. I'm still learning how to write, and I will always be learning. I hope to one day achieve something great with it, and I like to think I have that capability... but we shall see.

Apparently I'm also good at teaching. I think it's more a case of being good at blagging, and having a deep-set empathy for others that hasn't quite been cured by the 21st century's apathy culture.

*My website has a blog. It's about my writing, though, so that doesn't count. Right?

Obviously that I'm tall and blonde, like some sort of Greek demigod. Without the bronzed skin or rippling muscles... but you can't have it all.

Almost everyone I've ever known has really hated at least one thing I love. So here's a semi-comprehensive list...

Books: The Lord of the Rings, Chuck Palahniuk, Graham Greene, the Discworld series, House of Spirits, Generation X, Rant, Survivor, Slaughterhouse 5, V, Nineteen Eighty-Four, One Hundred Years of Solitude, A Song of Ice and Fire series - fantasy, magical realism, satire, postmodern modernism

Films: The Lord of the Rings, Kontroll, Donnie Darko, Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, Pan's Labyrinth, Terminator 2, Stargate, Fight Club, The Matrix, Moon, Synecdoche, New York, Where the Wild Things Are, The Darjeeling Limited, Rushmore, District 9, The Edukators

TV: Breaking Bad, Forbrydelsen, Borgen, Sherlock, Stargate SG1, Nathan Barley, Peep Show, Brass Eye (most things by Chris Morris and Charlie Brooker)

Music: System of a Down, Dead Kennedys, Anti-Flag, Cradle of Filth, Arch Enemy, Draconian, Architecture in Helsinki, Beseech, Sirenia, The Kovenant, Iron Maiden,KoRn, Disturbed, Sevendust, Machine Head, Chimaira, Rammstein, Goldfinger, The Offspring, Reel Big Fish, Flobots, Comrade Malone, Rise Against, Arcade Fire, Bad Religion, Feeder, Muse, NOFX, Serj Tankian, Scars on Broadway

The sun, the sky, the stars in the sky, the little black birds, the dancing wind and the monster that lives underneath my bed. His name is Kurt.

The nature of reality, and how it's crumbling all the time. People are playing games about dreams or dreaming of games or watching films about dreams, or reading books about films about books... every layer we add dissolves our sense of what is real and true. Perhaps nothing is.

Being hunted by the police.

Cooking meth in my secret lab. Is it still a secret now it's on the internet?

I'm in the process of transferring my consciousness to a digital reality.

Also, I aspire to be a supervillain along the lines of "Doctor Horrible" but with a snazzier outfit. Possibly including a fedora.

You're someone who can change all the lead resting in my head to gold...

When you get lost, you have an urge to say "I don't think Gandalf meant for us to come this way..."

You own a sword.