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- Master of Science in Air Pollution and Climate from Sheffield University. 1977
- Bachelor of Education degree in Education from Sheffield. 1973
- Advanced Diploma in Computers Across the Curriculum 1990
- A Wikipedia page was created about me by a book company. See here
- My sci-fi short story Sentinels reached semi-finalist stage with a commendation when submitted for the Ron Hubbard award in 1987. I have never seen such a shiny glittering certificate! And you can read it in full here..
- Escaping Reality was originally pubished as an ebook but my first agent asked me to withdraw it while they sent it to mainstream publishers. Before it was withdrawn copies were bought and I have had embarrassingly rave reviews from readers wanting sequels and films made from it. It was published under John Ambit my penname but since I stopped teaching I can publish naughty bits under my own name. Escaping Reality came in the Top 100 Best Reads in Cheshire Libraries 2003
- My own town has honoured me by including a short scifi story in the Chester Writers Anthology 2003
- The prestigious web-based writers’ publishers Bewrite made me their Author of the Month both on site and in their newsletter in June 2004.
- I am the showcased author in the quarterly newsletter of Eros & Rust: run by that enigmatic author Kenyon Cherboneaux and distributed to hundreds of writers.
- I was honoured to be asked to be a judge for the November 2004 issue of the horror story issue of Eros & Rust.
- In November 2004 I became one of a small group of volunteer editors for the BeWrite.net writing community. I was made a moderator of its online Community Forum in January 2005
- February 2005 I came first in the second short-story competition at Cafe Doom – a cash prize
- July 2006 I rarely enter competitions, but was bullied into a horror flash in-house competition at Cafe Doom, and won it against stiff competition.
- read my winning short story, Tumble – only 300 words
- Not an award, but I am proud to be a member of the British Fantasy Society and the British Science Fiction Association
- Academic awards include: MSc (Master of Science), BEd (Batchelor of Education) and he is a Fellow of the Royal Meteorological Society. (FRMet S).
- Member of the Society of Authors since October 2006
- In 2007 my unpublished thriller novel, Hot Air, was awarded second place Silver Prize in World and Universal Academia Arts Awards in Groningen, The Netherlands.
- I was featured in an online interview with Book Connections in April 2008here
- November 2008 Awarded third place in The Grail Short Story Competition.
January 2009 Exit, Pursued by a Bee was nominated for the 2008 Science Fiction category of the Preditors & Editors Readers’ Poll. Exit came second out of over 160 entries and so is entitled to a badge. The publisher of Exit, Pursued by a Bee was also awarded Top Ten Finisher.
March 2009 Two articles of mine were in Inside Scoop, edited by Marilyn Peake, published by Double Dragon Publishing and awarded Winner of 2008 EPPIE for nonfiction anthology. The winners were announced in 2009, hence the label on the badge. They also won the Forward Magazine Book of the Year honourable mention.
- May 2010 Honorable Mention at Strong Scenes for the opening scene of Left Luggage.
- January 2013 Short horror story, Her Battle of Trafalgar was Editor’s Pick in The Horror Zine.
January 2013 ARIA: Left Luggage won the best science fiction novel out of 85 entries in the Preditors & Editors Contest and was awarded this emblem.
- Summer 2016 my short story, Prime Meridian, is in a Twisted Tales anthology published by Readers Circle of Avenue Park and won 3rd place in the Summer Indie Book Awards 2016 hosted by Metaphorph Publishing.
- Spring 2018 my short story Angular Size was nominated then short-listed for the BSFA Awards.
- June 2021 saw my short story, Here Today nominated and accepted for the Best of British Science Fiction 2020 collection.
- January 2023 Kepler’s Son was nominated for the British Science Fiction Association Award in the short fiction section.
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