I am partially blind and deaf. I was brought up on the breadline in Worksop, Nottinghamshire – one of nine kids. After working in numerous factories, at twenty five I was accepted onto a three-year acting course at the Guildford School of Acting.
Having studied Shakespeare and the iambic pentameter extensively, I developed a passion for Shakespeare’s works, and have directed (and acted) his plays professionally many times over the years. My knowledge of all things Elizabethan has led to me to run and devise Shakespeare workshops for leading UK drama schools and the Open University.
My last professional stage performance was as Loby (a blind Vaudevillian) in Tony Kushner’s The Visit on the Olivier Stage at the National Theatre, staring alongside the great Lesley Manville and Hugo Weaving (Agent Smith in The Matrix and Elrond in The Hobbit & The Lord of the Rings).
After retiring from the acting world, I am determined to make a career in writing. I have recently finished my first novel, Ike Versus the Trolls, and am currently writing my second, a memoir. I have also written, along with my brother, a TV comedy pilot entitled Tuck that Shane Ritchie has expressed an interest in.
IKE VERSUS: THE TROLLS (complete at 50,000 words) is the first in a trilogy of middle-grade fantasy novels, but it can also be a stand-alone novel.
Michael Rosen (Author)
It’s an epic! A huge Jabberwocky. A scary Jumblies. Amazing.
Hugo Weaving
(Agent Smith in The Matrix & Elrond in The Hobbit)
I totally love it. Such fun to read. It drags you in and takes you flying, and you feel like a kid again.
I love the VERSE and the pace of it and the inventiveness and the humour. I couldn’t stop turning the pages. FAB.
Darren Simpson
(Author of Scavengers, The Memory Thieves & Furthermoor)
Inventive, playful and smart – a brilliant way to introduce young readers to the fun to be had with verse.
Arthur Smith
(Author, comedian & presenter)
An often hilarious outpouring that lights up the page and is literally fantastic.
IKE VERSUS: THE TROLLS
features Wizards and Dwarves and mythical creatures such as Dragons and Trolls
that will appeal to fans of
PERCY JACKSON & THE OLYMPIANS, THE HOBBIT, THE DARK CRYSTAL and
Kwame Alexander’s THE DOOR OF NO RETURN.
Although the narration is in prose, the characters speak in prose & verse. It’s Shakespeare meets The Lord of the Rings.
A stolen diamond, a kidnapped sister and the universe on the edge of doom. It’s all in a day’s work for Ike Brightstar – the saviour of the world.
When the life giving magic diamond is stolen by the Trolls, Ike (a fourteen-year-old human with ADHD) must rescue it. Armed only with a bow and a magic tattoo, young Ike must leave his adopted Dwarfish family to risk life and limb by going where no other human has gone before – deep into the black heart of Troll Kingdom.
On rescuing the diamond, Ike learns that the Trolls have kidnapped his adopted sister, Skeat – keeping her captive in the hellish ManTon Prison. Ike’s mission is simple, break into ManTon, find his sister, break her out, and get home before his adopted people are destroyed. Did I say simple? Ike will soon realise that this mission is anything but.
Ike Versus is a fish out of water story. A tale of parental loss, of adoption, of struggles with afflictions, of NEVER giving up in the face of insurmountable odds. Ultimately though, it is a story of hope, forgiveness, redemption and love.
I will begin querying Ike Versus: the Trolls very soon.