Christopher James Holyoak was born in Hackney, East London in 1962. He grew up on a diet of Jack Kirby comics, Ray Harryhausen movies, Basil Rathbone’s Sherlock Holmes, and other such things that are likely to warp a young mind.
He spent his working life in London, both as a fireman and as a black cab driver, but in his thirties became a compulsive traveller, a pursuit that became an obsession for a while. Splitting the years between working and travelling, his journeys took him from Argentina to Zimbabwe. He loves the mountains and their associated sports, spending as much time as he can in the Alps.
Over the years, he managed to build a small property portfolio, as well as earn a degree from the Open University. He plays the acoustic guitar and the octave mandolin and is currently trying to teach himself piano. He has an interest in languages and is insanely envious of all those rather smug polyglots with their own YouTube channels. He also enjoys playing historical, action adventure games, especially the Assassin’s Creed franchise.
He loves reading biographies, philosophy, comparative religions and history books; his favourite periods being Anglo Saxon England and the Regency/Victorian/Edwardian era. Having a lifelong interest in the fighting arts, his library now has growing collection of books on the Western martial arts tradition, especially those of English heritage.
He is a ‘homeless’ Christian and Traditionalist, having an interest in Christian mysticism, Indo-European history and mythology, Zen Buddhism and Neoplatonism , as well as a purely academic interest in occult matters such as Gnosticism and Hermeticism.
His fiction reading tastes are considered a little dated by most, his favourite authors being, amongst others: H. Rider Haggard, Jack London, JRR Tolkien, Arthur Conan Doyle, Edgar Rice Burroughs and HP Lovecraft.
A Spenglerian of sorts and having grown convinced that the world has gone quite mad, he now lives in the hills of rural Shropshire with his wife, Nicola, and his dog, Django, who is named in honour of his favourite jazz guitarist.
