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My name is indeed David. I was born in Edinburgh in 1950, and brought up in Scotland. I am the eldest of four siblings. I left school at 15 without any qualifications, just after my Mother died. At that time I simply could not have cared less about exams. In fact I failed every single “O” grade exam that year, and never went back to school. I gained my education in life’s school of hard knocks, and learned to look after myself. I remedied the formal qualifications thing later, and obtained my degrees from Strathclyde Business School, whilst holding down a full time job.

I started work at 16, as a post-boy, delivering office mail, and then when I was 19, obtained a job in the computer industry, in the days when computers were as big as a house and working with computers was seen as being sexy. I worked in various IT roles in both the private and public sector, starting as a trainee computer operator, and ending up as Head of IT, running one of the UK’s largest public sector organisations. One of my IT roles was as a security auditor working for a large American IT Company. This job gave me the opportunity to travel widely over Europe and the Far East. I have been in North Korea at Panmunjom, been chased by muggers and pimps in Copenhagen, have even worked in the financial services industry, (where I didn’t get paid any bonuses), and have been through redundancy twice. I am still alive and kicking, and am the second most resilient person I know. I took early retirement after my wife was diagnosed with terminal cancer. My life is changing again, and I have a new perspective on what is important in life. But it’s not all doom and gloom...or woe is me..........In fact.....My sense of humour remains as dark as it ever was.

In the meantime, my first book has been published - October 2009. It is called “In the Shadow of Amiantus”  

I was offered a traditional publishing contract by a small independent publisher called checkpoint press. So it’s thanks to them, that the book is here. I was investigating self publishing at the time, but checkpoint press liked my work, and offered me the contract.

So Thanks for your support and help - Stephen Manning of Checkpoint Press

Am now trying to find an agent who may be interested in my first novel.

Have you ever tried to find an agent or publisher for your work? Here are some of the challenges I faced.