About the author

Ann Christie

<p>I am adverse to seeking celebrity status, and so my profile is not so much about me as a person as it is about me as an author. I began writing my first story when I was 8 years old, when I was ill in bed, but the disparaging remarks of an adult crippled my enthusiasm, though I am sure that was not the intention. In spite of that I wrote compulsively for most of my life, but tore everything up, poetry, short stories, novels, all took their trip to the bin as soon as they were finished, often long before. But I reasoned that writers should know something about life, before purporting to write about it, so I gave up on any ambition I may have had of becoming an author.<br /> Now, many years later, I find have that &nbsp;experience in bucketfuls. My rich, colourful and interesting life I began when I ran away from home, not yet 15 years old, and it took me around the world and through a range of experiences, some harrowing, some delightful, but always &quot;in the raw&quot;.<br /> Sometimes alone, often poor, I have always remained determined to face whatever life threw at me, without giving up, returning home with my tail between my legs, or throwing myself into addiction.<br /> ****<br /> My stories are pure speculation, they do not presume to re-invent reality, the past and the ways of the world, rather, they portray them from different angles, some speculative, some reflective, but always open to interpretation.<br /> I would love to think that I could one day write like some of my heroes and heroines, Terry Pratchett, Mary Renault, Maya Angelou, Alice Walker, Arundhati Roy, Ursula Le Guin....<br /> But everyone has to start somewhere, and so my first novel must go forth like a little paper boat, I shan&#39;t know whether it will bravely across the oceans and end-up in some distant shore, delivering its message to some unseen stranger, or soak-up the seawater and flounder before I have even stood up to wave it farewell, on its maiden voyage.<br /> There are many things I should like to achieve in life, but notoriety is not one of them, in fact, I abhor the very notion of being known. I should like people to like my stories, even more, I would love feedback, to know what worked, what didn&#39;t, what I should have &nbsp;expanded upon and what needed a good trim. So this is my fervent hope: that readers will choose to leave a review on whatever site they find my work, and be honest, without being deliberately hurtful.</p>