Glen R Stansfield
Born in Rossendale, in the Lancashire Pennines, I grew up with a freedom and innocence I believe children no longer enjoy. They were magical times when play was a product of the imagination; when a tree trunk became a pirate ship, a stick was a sword: all done without the aid of electronics. My early recollections of school are of a remarkable, but fairly strict headmaster, Marcus Dearden. He had an amazing ability to spot the enquiring mind, encourage and develop it. This is where my interest in writing started and was nurtured, but for many years I put it on the back burner to concentrate on other things. In the mid-eighties, I started what would ultimately be my first novel, but abandoned it after one chapter. I returned to the work in 2012, using the original idea but starting from scratch. My interest in crime, particularly why some people are more willing than others to be criminals, led me to take a degree in psychology through the Open University. I continued post graduate study in Forensic Psychology for two years. I often consult my psychology books when writing my novels. Aside from my crime novels, I write short stories and articles for various publications here in Bahrain, where I reside with my wife, Jess. I have also published a cook book (standard and halal versions available), and I am currently working on another two crime novels, and several more outside the genre.
Something we never said before
Occasionally, an event occurs that causes us to say something never said before. Growing up, we are bound to utter plenty of fresh sentences, but as we get older, the reasons for doing so diminish as we settle into familiar patterns and routines in our lives. Any new phrase forthcoming will likely be so unremarkable, it won’t even be noticed. Once in a while it will stop you in your tracks as, ‘oh my god that’s the haggis exploding’ – something I have never uttered since that solitary occasion back in August 2017. As one of my two readers is aware, I am a massive fan of Sir Terry Pratchett’s…