Michael claims that English was his worst subject at school; his burning ambition was to become a footballer but his dreams were never realised and he went on to study Maths and Computer Science at university.

Humour is at the heart of everything that Michael does: he sees it as the 'antidote' to his very technical and non-creative career. Michael's first book was excitingly entitled Disk Programming Techniques for the BBC Microcomputer, and finding that he enjoyed writing the jokes more than the rest, Michael decided to try leaving out the computer bits. In 1993 Michael decided to concentrate full-time on his writing (apart from when he's day-dreaming about football). In 1997 Michael's novel for older children Weirdo's War was shortlisted for the Carnegie Children's Book Award, the Lancashire Children's Book Award and the Writers Guild Award. Following Michael's gritty teen novels The Snog Log and Tag, Going Straight was shortlisted for the Lancashire Children's Book of the Year Award and the Stockport Award. Following on from the success of The Howling Tower and The Fighting Pit, February 2007 sees the final instalment of Michael's highly original and powerful Bear Kingdom Trilogy. In The Hunting Forest, Benjamin and Mops have escaped from Bear-Kingdom Palace and are on their way to find Hide-Park - the fabled place where they have been told that humans can run free. But will it really be a place of dreams, or is this just the start of another nightmare...?

Praise for Weirdo's War
"Thoughtful exploration of the reasons why children, and teachers, become bullies or victims, with a thoroughly satisfactory resolution." - Time Out

"Tense, psychological and instructive." - The Times

Michael has written more than 30 titles, ranging from picture books through to serious novels for teenage readers.

He lives with his wife and four children in Fareham, Hampshire.

Bibliography

Angels F.C. (Super Crunchies) Awesome Attacking Dazzling Dribbling Shocking Shooting Touchline Terror Squabbling Squads

Black Apples The Fighting Pit Going Straight The Howling Tower The Hunting Forest (Feb 07) Snog Log Tag Weirdo's War

Copyright © 2006: The Watts Publishing Group.