James Maxwell
James Maxwell is a science fiction and fantasy author. Born in New Zealand and educated in Australia, from a young age he was influenced by the fantasy classics (C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, Jack Vance, Weis & Hickman, David Gemmell, Robert Jordan) before moving on to science fiction (Frank Herbert, Isaac Asimov) and then historical fiction (Wilbur Smith, Ken Follett).
At age 11 he used his parents' MS-DOS computer (with its shiny 20MB hard drive) to teach himself programming, and also to write a 40,000 word fantasy novelette. A year later, aged 12, he attended his first writer's workshop, a three day writer's camp, working with published Australian authors and learning about the industry and the craft. Unfortunately, as yet, no publishers or agents were knocking on the door.
