Darren Kloss

Darren was born in England’s North London but after only a few years his family moved further south and he has lived in the Sussex Downs ever since, barring four years in Australia and two in the US.

Somehow he was lucky enough to find a beautiful French wife who made the mistake of marrying him, but in the end for reasons unknown she is still putting up with his ornery nature. Darren is relatively certain it’s due to the devious spell he hired a witch to cast on her the day they first met, causing her to fall madly in love with him. They live together with no cat, no dog and two teddies, who keep them in check when things get out of hand.

Darren worked in a variety of capacities over the years but always seemed to be sucked inexorably back into the black hole of financial management, something he’ll never forgive himself for.

His saving grace was no matter what work he did, there was always time to lose himself in another world, contained within the pages of a good book. That or playing Warhammer, D&D, Warhammer Quest, Daggerfall or any of the other Elder Scrolls over the years that let him escape the mundane of our world and explore that of hundreds of others.

He now writes his own stories at any given opportunity, whether on a public bus, in a train or plain, on holiday or in between what is sadly termed by most as ‘normal work’. 

From Darren

I have always loved stories. One of my earliest memories is of my father telling me of Gandalf fighting the Balrog in the Mines of Moria. He sat on the edge of 4 year old Darren’s bed and spoke in a low, intent whisper ‘you shall not pass!’ But then it was bedtime and I’d make him promise to tell me more the next day. I’ve got no idea how I fell asleep after that cliffhanger!

It should come as no surprise that I became a precocious reader, and by the age of 12 read the Lord of the Rings myself. I was hooked, glued. But as all stories do, it finally came to an end. The elves were gone, over the sea. Aragorn was gone, the Hobbits had vanished. And I felt strangely empty, like friends of mine had vanished forever.

Then my mother came to the rescue and bought me The Sword of Shannara from Terry Brooks and Dune from Frank Herbert for my thirteenth birthday. All was right in the world again.

Since then I haven’t stopped reading, consuming hundreds of books from many genres, my favourites being Science Fiction and Fantasy. From Neil Gaiman to Orson Scott Card, Brandon Sanderson to Philip K Dick, JK Rowling to Andy Weir, I found that there are dozens, hundreds of incredible storytellers out there.

But it wasn’t until I was thrown into helping complete my older brother’s final instalment for The Royal Institute of Magic that I realised writing was something I wanted to do myself.

I found to my amazement that writing your own story is almost the same as reading one, you just get to be the first person who goes on the adventure!

Now as much as I can, I spend time enjoying my favourite type of stories, the ones that I dream up. And I hope others enjoy them to.