I've always wanted to say that the sky spat fire and the heavens trembled on the day I was born, but my mother tells me it was just slightly overcast with a light drizzle. That was in 1971 and the place: the middle of a hop field in darkest Kent, England. Considering how I turned out, my childhood was relatively normal. I read a great deal (having bad asthma and a very sporty brother helped no end). The first book I remember being read to me was The Hobbit, closely followed by The Owl Who Was Afraid of the Dark. I went to a normal (but unnaturally sporty) school, though I was picked on by teachers for saying I wanted to be a writer-cum-film director when I grew up. Conversations would go along the lines of :

" So, young Brandon, have you given any thought as to what career you wish to pursue after you finish your A-levels?"

" I'd like to be a writer or maybe a film director, sir,"

" Yes, that's lovely. Now have you ever thought about physiotherapy? The country needs good physiotherapists you know."

" But..."

" No buts, Brandon. Here, take this prospectus on the London School of Medicine."

You know, most of my friends had those prospectuses given to them as well. There must've been a real shortage of physios that year, either that, or the careers teacher was on the take from National Health Service. Even now, I have an unnatural fear of physiotherapists.

So anyway, I finished up taking three A-levels but decided not to apply for Film School as it had been pointed out to me (by Jim Henson) that it was probably better to just get out there and gain experience, so I managed to convince a Director of Photography to bring me along to film shoots on a full-time basis as his minion. I'd already been going along to the odd shoot or two since I was about 17, and I studied Film and other related subjects part-time at the British Film Institute and a local university. The majority of the work was within commercials, but I've also worked on documentaries (did a few Barbara Waters Specials for the (American) ABC); pop videos and the occasional movie (a little with the Second Unit of the Muppets Christmas Carol which, although Jim Henson had passed on by that time, was an odd way of coming full-circle. Still, I got to meet Kermit).

In '93, met Julie in an Irish pub in London (she was spilling her beer deliberately over me in a vain attempt to get my tall form out of her way so she could actually see the band). We fell in love, which proved interesting as she was only over on holiday at the time (she's an Aussie, from Brisbane). Six months later, we had The Talk, and I decided to pack up and move over with her.

So I quit my 'job', which was fine because I'd been writing more and more anyway, left my friends and family, and my beloved Kentish pubs, and came over here. I have to one thing for Australia -they have really big fruit!

When I arrived in Australia I made a token attempt to get into film work here, though really, there wasn't much of that kind of work in Brisbane so I carried on writing while I was looking. Writing was something I'd always done, though at that stage it was more for myself. I did a little bit of freelance copywriting for a few firms, again, nothing big and had a few small things published in the local press.After a couple of years noodling around in Aus, attempting to get used to the heat, the language and the really big fruit, I had finished a substantial part of a High Fantasy Thing (by 'High Fantasy' I mean elves, wizards, goblins, Tolkienesque style) that I tried to place with publishers over here with little success.

swim_cover
While I was bashing at the hot keyboard, I took a month or so off to write Swim the Moon which was a little idea that had occurred to me while listening to a Celtic fiddle tune during tea on a Sunday evening. I sent it down to Jack Dann who'd just moved to Melbourne and was a consulting editor for Tor books in New York. Since then, I've finished a few more manuscripts (I recently re-read the High Fantasy Thing then promptly buried it at the bottom of the garden, next to where we throw the kitty litter. I'm curious as to what will grow). At the moment, I'm working on two new novels, a Dark Thrillery kind of thing, and a rural fantasy about well...that would be telling.