MICHAEL J. SIDDALL

Michael Siddall was born in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England and his aspirations to become a novelist began after devising the board game:'Challenge of the Gods'. Educated at Newfield Secondary Modern School in Sheffield he left with exemplary grades in his final exams and went on to Granville College for two years where he studied literature, art, design and history. Times were hard and he left college to become a carpet fitter. As a child of nine years, Michael contracted Rheumatic Fever, spending a whole year in the Northern General Hospital, laid flat on his back for the first six months and in a wheelchair for the following six. To occupy himself he wrote his first short stories and has continued to write every day of his life since.He was told that as a consequence of his illness he would have a weak heart and spend the rest of his life in a wheelchair. Michael proved the specialists wrong. Not only did he walk again; he joined the Army and became a P.T. I in the R.E.M.E., stationed at Borden in Hampshire with a heart as strong as a lion. He has also attained Black Belt status in Shotokan Karate, Aikido, and teaches Kickboxing and Mixed Martial Arts in his spare time.A writer since school, he has written several novels of varying length, 'Challenge of the Gods' being his first serious attempt at fantasy novel writing after taking a creative writing course. He has also written the trilogy, 'A Violent Man', a short novella entitled, 'The Book, the Wand, the Magic' and the Time Travel novels 'All the Time in the World' and 'Time and Time Again'.He still resides in Sheffield where he is writing his next tale and he ice skates almost every day at Ice Sheffield, particularly on Saturday and Sunday mornings amongst an array of treasured friends and colleagues.