about me

Hello,

Thanks for dropping in.

But I’m not at all sure how to describe myself, particularly as I’ve been a bit of a Jack of all Trades.

Well, a career as a child catwalk model was cut short when I fell off the stage at the age of five. An omen, no doubt, as I’ve been horribly prone to accidents ever since. These include a narrow escape from a stampeding herd of cattle, a near-miss incident on a jumbo jet, leaping from a bolting horse seconds before it charged under a signpost, falling downstairs carrying a tray of glasses, being on a transatlantic flight when an engine burst into flames (right next to my window), getting stuck under a ladder at the bottom of a swimming pool, and being mugged in a New York lift---which left me highly concussed, and probably explains a lot.

Exciting jobs include tour guiding, putting the shine on Avon lipsticks, promoting cubic zirconia jewellery and picking mushrooms. My career as a waitress lasted a week after I dropped profiteroles in a customer’s lap.

On the more responsible side, I did work for NASA for a short time right after a stint at Columbia University, and then laboured as a professional translator. At the moment I’m an educator at a college in the south of England. Sounds so dull after the mushroom farm.

Drama and music have figured prominently in my life, and I’ve appeared in a number of productions, as well as directed a few.

The writers’ group I belong to has, dauntingly, already produced one mega publishing phenomenon, and another one of best-selling paperback promise. In their shadow, my own “standard works” (so far unpublished) include a full-length play, some poetry (very un-humorous), a pilot for a sit-com (with a writer friend), short stories--some of which appear here in "Making Connections", and a collection of ridiculous dog stories, "Dog Daze", which now also appear on this site.

I did start a thriller a few years ago, but a certain Dan Brown came along with a similar plot and beat me to it. My friends had already told me my idea would never catch on. What did they know!

It hasn’t all been doom and gloom, though. There have been some high points, particularly dog-sledding in Alaska and riding a dolphin (elsewhere). To a lesser degree, attending a Star Trek convention right after going to a dreary modern languages conference in the same hotel takes a bit of beating.

Live long, prosper, and publish!

Jann

favourite books

I don’t think I have any eternal favourites, except, perhaps, Georgette Heyer. I love all her work. I tend to get absorbed in whatever I’m reading at the moment. I like escapist fiction: thrillers, historical fiction, some best sellers.

Books that have made a big impression on me:

Stendhal’s “The Red and The Black”
Margaret Mitchell’s “Gone with the Wind”
“The Shadow of the Wind” by Carlos Luis Zafón
The original “The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse” by Vicente Blasco Ibáñez
"Mr Pip", by Lloyd Jones
Robert Harris’s “Pompeii” and “Imperium”
Jilly Cooper’s entire tongue-in-cheek fictional world.
Books about ancient conquerors, particularly Alexander the Great.
Steve Dunne’s “The Reaper”

my websites