Hi Neal,

I have read SciFi and fantasy since I discovered a book by Hugh Walters in the school library when I was about 11. From then on I was constantly berated by the English teacher for reading that ‘Star Trek rubbish’. Seems that we had to stick to Dickens and Austen. Sod that!

I worked my way through all that I could find of Walters, then EE Doc Smith, Asimov, Clarke etc.

Then college beckoned and then a job and life got serious. I worked for a while as a soil scientist until I figured that I could earn more money elsewhere and went to work for Rank Hovis. I was a flour miller there for 30 years and am now a primary school site manager cruising to retirement. At 56 I still read, your books when they come out, Peter Hamiltons and loads of others. Lockdown has seen me buy an inordinate amount of books for my kindle. Although, I have worked all through lockdown so reading time has been limited and the reading queue is very long still.

Sometimes I try to keep up with my own blog at http://www.giant68.co.uk where I am just a grumpy old guy. I wrote a piece about SciFi novels a while back and was over the moon when you commented on it.

4 more years till I hit 60 and the planned retirement, although if this situation carries on much longer I may retire soon!

But a few heart attacks and a quintuple bypass hasn’t stopped me so why should this!

Keep those books coming!

Regards

Andy Venn