An Unexpected Beginning
I never set out to become a writer.
In fact, for much of my life, writing a novel was probably one of the last things I imagined myself doing. It began with an idea for a story and the encouragement to sit down and see what I could make of it.
That idea became The Taciturn Spell.
What started as one story gradually grew into something much larger. Billy Bennett's journey now stretches across four books and six very different worlds, taking him from England in 1912 into places inhabited by dwarves, gnomes, elves, demons and people from a much older time.
The Stories I Write
I've never been particularly interested in writing about perfect heroes or characters who always know the right thing to do.
Billy isn't that sort of character. He's an ordinary boy caught up in events far beyond anything he understands or feels prepared for. He gets frightened. He makes mistakes. Sometimes he makes the wrong decision. What matters to me is what happens because of those decisions and how the experiences change him.
Although the books are fantasy, I've always wanted the people within them to feel real. Friendship, fear, loyalty, loss and the choices people make when there isn't an obvious right answer matter just as much to me as the strange worlds and creatures surrounding them.
I also enjoy creating the visual side of the books myself, from the covers and artwork to this website. It gives me the freedom to shape the world around the stories as well as the stories themselves.
The Billy Bennett Chronicles
The Billy Bennett Chronicles began with The Taciturn Spell and continues through The Wishliss, The Sword Excalibur and the final book, The Wizard King.
Although each book takes Billy somewhere new, they form one continuing story. Things that may seem unimportant at first can have consequences much later, and questions raised in the earlier books don't always reveal their answers straight away.
For me, that's part of the pleasure of writing the series: discovering how all those pieces eventually come together.
For Jackie
Jackie was my partner for 36 years, and the person who first pushed me to start writing.
When I had the beginnings of an idea for a story, she encouraged me to do something with it. Without that push, it might never have become anything more than an idea. Instead, it became The Taciturn Spell and, eventually, The Billy Bennett Chronicles.
She passed away in June 2026, before I could finish the series.
After 36 years together, learning to carry on without her is something I'm still coming to terms with.
Finishing these books is now about more than completing a story. Jackie was the person who encouraged me to begin it.
I owe it to her to see it through.