About Simon Wood

Before becoming a full time author, I designed equipment that stopped oil rigs from leaking and kept drinking water clean, raced single seater cars in the UK, tried to cure my fears of heights by becoming a licensed pilot, and along with my wife, Julie, made ends meet by becoming a private investigator and going undercover in casinos to catch gambling cheats.

I didn’t entertain the idea of writing until I moved to America in 1998 and the now defunct Immigration and Naturalization Service is to blame. They took so long to process my permanent residency application that I found myself with a large amount of time on my hands and somewhere along the way, I tinkered with the idea of becoming a writer.

There was one thing wrong with this flight of fancy, I’m dyslexic. Writing is difficult and reading is especially challenging. Thankfully, dyslexia doesn’t get in the way of my imagination. That being said, my understanding of rudimentary grammar and writing structure was poor to say the least—there are still a lot of grammatical terms writers and editors use that I have to look up in a dictionary. With Julie’s help, I put myself a self-taught, crash course on creative writing and let rip. That was dozen books and more than a hundred short stories ago.

But before you go thinking I’m some sad shut-in who does nothing beyond tapping away at a keyboard all day and night, I do have other interests. In addition to holding UK and US private pilot licenses, I’m a recovering racecar driver. It was a very expensive passion that I don’t currently indulge in. Cocaine would have been a cheaper addiction. I now race vicariously through my protagonist, Aidy Westlake, who is a far better and more interesting driver than I’ll ever be. I keep my adrenaline flowing as a road cyclist, taking part in endurance rides and time trials. I love to travel and the more off the beaten track, the better.

My wife, Julie, has to get a mention. She has to edit and read out all my scribblings and listen to me bitch and moan about my writing and all the editors who reject my work—and no, I haven’t gotten used to rejection yet. If you are an editor reading this, don’t worry, I don’t take it personally. Writers tend to view editors with the same eye the rest of the world views tax collectors.

I suppose I should mention my weakness for longhaired dachshunds. There’s been a dachshund in my life for over thirty years, and my current hound is Sabine. Julie and I also rescue and foster animals. My furry menagerie consists of six cats: LeeLoo, Gordo, Silva, Georgie, JP and Bear. We’ve adopted all these guys—or maybe it’s the other way around. We also keep chickens (Scully, Princess Layer, Buffy, Picard & Moneypenny) and bees and even have our own honey brand.

My gang and I currently reside in Northern California on a hill next to a seismic fault line…for now anyway.