Writing sci-fi wouldn't normally be considered natural progression for an ex Royal Engineer and retired publican, but it keeps me out of my local pub for a few hours a day. I have been an avid sci-fi reader for many decades, and cut my teeth reading Asimov, E. E. Doc Smith, Alan Dean Foster and such like. In more recent times Andy Weir's The Martian, and absolutely everything penned by the fantastic Peter F Hamilton and Gareth L Powell inspired me to think about writing some stories of my own.