Raised amid the heavy industry of the northeast of England on a diet of baked beans, Star Trek, and Doctor Who, I rebelled against my schools assumption that heavy industrial work would be my vocation. Having exhausted the only apparent option, the careers master despaired. “If you don’t want to work in the steelworks, where do you want to work?” My reply was, “I don’t know.” I assumed that at this point he would be offering advice on alternative careers. I was to be disappointed. To this day I still don’t understand why he was so annoyed at my response. The industry I finished up in would not materialize for another ten years. From school, via drawing office and architecture, eventually I found myself working with large computer systems.

Career aside, the thread that has bound it all together has been fantasy. I’ve never lost my fascination with the imagery that a good story invokes. After all, it has shown me worlds beyond this one, and possibilities beyond the steelworks. It continues to do so.

I still live in the northeast of England with my wife and family. The heavy industry has shrunk, but my world of fantasy has grown. I often wonder what advice I would have been given if the careers master had read the occasional bit of science fiction.