Who I am

Welcome. I’m Kevin Barron. By day, I’m a business consultant and father, but once the kids are in bed I’m a writer too.

I’m English, but since 2004, I’m usually based in Auckland, New Zealand.

What I like

Other than writing, I enjoy photography, travel, and trying to grow vegetables in my small garden. Travel has taken a bit of a back seat of recent years, but I still explore new places in NZ when I can. Having been away from the UK for so long, I now see it through traveller’s eyes, so I feel like I’m travelling wherever I am. After all, there are palm trees on my street and a volcano in the harbour, neither of which are normal where I come from.

A few years ago, I took up improv and now practise and perform with a funny group of silly people at the Covert Theatre, mentored by the amazing Improv Bandits. It’s had a definite impact on my writing, after all, writing is just slow motion improv.

I enjoy reading and my usual time is on my short commute to and from work. My reading tastes are broad. For non fiction, it’s often history (currently Norman Lewis’ huge Europe – A history) which can also provide inspiration for my books. In fiction, I roam widely. Recent reads have included young adult (e.g. Hunger Games, Secondborn and Prescient), thrillers (e.g. Lee Child, Mark Dawson, John Ling), literary fiction (e.g. Kate Atkinson, William Boyd) and the classics (e.g. Thackeray, Dickens).

What I write

I’m unable to keep to one genre which makes my publishing career more complicated than it needs to be. In the main, I write science fiction and fantasy.

The Blood Girl series has developed a life of its own since I first thought of the idea while walking along Auckland’s waterfront on my way to work. In Mouse I wanted a heroine who would have to struggle to survive, but who is resourceful and discovers what she’s capable of when confronted with difficult and violent situations.

The Light Funnel series involves alternate worlds and contains elements that could be considered flintlock or gunpowder fantasy. I wanted to explore a world that was different to the standard sword and sorcery, so it’s more like Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials than Tolkien, Terry Brooks or George RR Martin. If you find something similar, let me know as I’d like to read it.

In addition, I’ve published travel books, got a romantic comedy in the works, written nonsense poetry and a business book. Not only am I planning more business books and workbooks, but I’m also intending to write a book or two for children. There really aren’t enough hours in the day.

I always loved writing stories at school. I even mapped out a science fiction saga across hundreds of years which was a framework for a number of stories and imaginings. Very little of it is ever likely to be published, although I’ve seen worse things on television.

I started writing seriously when independent publishing became more common and better respected. I mostly write in the evenings, but when I’m lucky, I get to do it in the mornings, which is when I write best. It just doesn’t always fit with work and family life.

I enjoy themes of drama, transformation and redemption. I’d rather feel uplifted in my reading, so I generally write with that aim myself. That doesn’t mean that the road to redemption is an easy one, or that everyone gets redeemed.

My main aim is to write something entertaining, but I also hope to include something to make my readers think or perhaps to see the world differently. That goes for both my fiction and my non-fiction, so perhaps those varied genres aren’t so varied after all.