Category:John Piper

John Piper has written all his life, from acclaimed school essays through advertising copy, technical manuals, sales proposals, contracts and magazine articles. He also edited a magazine for a time.

Having been an art student, he initially worked in graphics before a chance encounter drew him into the computer industry, working for an artists' equipment manufacturer. With a colleague, he co-wrote a satirical company newsletter in that first company, with John also contributing cartoons. It had mixed success!

Then, on holiday in Cornwall, he got into conversation with an elderly couple in Leryn, near Fowey. The conversation came around to his desire to write novels and they talked about some of his story ideas. So impressed were they that they contacted a friend who was a publisher and he in turn, contacted John to invite him to come and meet with him to discuss his ideas. Lack of confidence in his own ability held John back and he never went to the meeting. Now, many years later, the two books in question have finally been written.

The computer industry gave John the opportunity to travel extensively and ultimately to take early retirement. He now lives in South West France in a 15th Century stone farmhouse. He is married with a son and a daughter, who are both grown up. Word processing and at last having the time to devote to writing has resulted in three books so far and another in the planning stage.

John writes about suspense, but always with a dark twist. His books cover subject areas such as enslavement, people-trafficking, prostitution, cannibalism, madness, megalomania and much more. There are even patches of romance here and there, though never quite as it might seem.

The characters in his books are drawn from his experiences of travelling the world, although Claude, the main character in his first book, was based on a mixture of two boys at his secondary school. All his characters are real people. No one is super human, they all have frailties and self doubts. The places are equally real. The settings are primarily in England, though future books may travel to more exotic locations.