Steve Hewitt hails from Chesterfield, Derbyshire, England. Born in the 1950s, he grew up with a love of reading and an interest in science fiction inspired by his paternal grandfather.

 

After studying economics at Nottingham University and health economics at York University, he embarked on a brief career as an academic, just as the UK Government ended the university tenure system. He next tried his hand at working for the NHS but soon realised that, although it wanted to employ a health economist, it didn’t want to use this particular skill-set.

 

Tiring of the politician’s fondness for endless and largely pointless tinkering with the health service, he joined the national education department as an analyst, specialising in international comparisons. Out of the frying pan ...

 

In 2005 he married Anne and, through her, met a friend who turned out to be a budding author. On announcing – as you do – that he’d always fancied having a go at writing a book, Steve was stunned when this new friend responded with ‘What’s stopping you?’

 

A little later he joined a writing group to begin learning the basic skills of producing a story.

 

In 2013 Steve grasped an opportunity to take early retirement so that he could concentrate on writing, walking his dog, entertaining his granddaughter and doing up his house – not necessarily in that order.