MJD - A Brief Bio

I was born on Christmas Day, 1969, in the town of Sunderland in Northeast England. Attended South Hylton Primary School then Pennywell Comprehensive School. I studied 'A' levels at Monkwearmouth College of Further Education during which time I met certain people who changed my life. One of them was my future wife Helen. After college I studied Electrical & Electronic Engineering and the Education (Physics) at the University of Sunderland.

Left is 'That Photo' of me that keeps on turning up. Might as well use it here - it's everywhere else! So, below is me, circa 1999, at the Fencing Club.

The club has been an important part of my life for as long as I can remember. A lot of people have passed through and many of them I've forgotten. Some left a lasting memory, some are still in touch… and some pretty much make up my circle of close friends.

Anyhow, at various times I've been a computer games designer, a teacher, a non-computer games designer, a defence analyst, a technical journalist, freelance author, editor and similar things, and I suppose I can claim to be a semi-professional sports coach as well.

And people wonder why I don't have much time to watch TV…

As an author I've written both fiction and non-fiction, and I've also edited a variety of works for other people. My fiction includes fantasy but tends towards SF and military SF these days. The non-fiction is pretty varied and includes a handbook for teachers, software documentation and non-fiction books on small arms, space flight and medieval warfare.

For general contact, try the link to theleft, or e-mail

I do try to answer mail in something resembling coherent English.

Other Stuff

Nate Zettle has been a fairly constant factor in my endeavours. Whenever some scheme of mine needs photos it'll be him I start bugging about taking them. This hasn't always worked out well - the Self-Defence Manual alone required endless shoots and reshoots as formats changed or images came out looking lame. At some point Nate will give up or just plain down tools and go home, but for the present I'm still getting away with prevailing upon his good nature.

Here's a selection of photos that never made the final cut…

	This is me (left) hitting Dave Birdsall with a palm-heel strike. We're behind the Life Sciences buildings at the University of Sunderland, for those who care.
	This one is for the column in Iowa Shooter magazine. The article was all about making space to draw a handgun. And that's Nate whose eyes I'm trying to put out. I'm unfriendly like that…
	… And this is Nate kicking me in the head. This one is from a shoot we did for Martial Arts Insider magazine. It's a deliberate piece of King-Fu Theatre, for an article about what does NOT happen in the real world. The sunglasses are authentic, however.
	… And again. This one is from the first shoot for The Self-Defence Manual, taken in Hendon. This photo didn't make the final cut; instead Nate got to kick Mary. Not quite as therapeutic as clobbering me, but I guess you have to take what you can get…
	Far too many people seem to be amused by pictures of me getting hurt. Here's another one. This is Dave Birdsall making a point during one of the 'author debates' we held at various times. These photos were taken on different days, even though I seem to be wearing the same clothes all the time. Draw what conclusions you will. At least I was outside in the daylight.
	This is Rachel, Nate's fiancée and my training partner, elbowing me in the head. It's a different jacket, okay? We had a lot of fun shooting pictures of us engaging in violence, even though a lot of them didn't turn out all that well. Sometimes a posed photo looks great and sometimes the real thing looks badly posed.
	… Myself and Nate having a debate about the finer points of photographic technique. Or something. This one wasn't set up; we just had a bit of a fight and took random images of the ensuing chaos. Naturally, I chose to use one where I'm winning. Being the author has its advantages!