David Gillanders

I was born in a dark recess of the 50s, just shy of a decade into post war Belfast. Rationing was still endured, although there was seldom seen a need to lock our front doors during the day. We kids could play unhindered in the streets by whatever means we could develop, and we would use the full capacity of our brain and come up with guiders, throwing arrows, the old hoop and clique or the bladder ball someone found under the Christmas tree one Christmas morning. These things would keep us happy for many hours during many days and not one of them needed an electric current running through it.

I grew up in a world without the constraints of electronic toys. There was the old cliché of not having much, but appreciating what we did have. That was not always true of my brother George and me. I have clear and happy memories of our wee mum, Mary Agnes, bringing lavish toys home every week for us. We didn’t deserve them and we seldom took care of them, but we had them – until we destroyed them.

My parents decided to name me David, although most people know me as Davy or Davy-Gee. When my kids were kids, I would write bedtime stories for them. Since retiring, I have taken up writing again and have thus far finished six books with two published and the other four awaiting a spot of polishing, although I hope to have them all published within a few weeks of the New Year of 2021.

My son and two daughters have been instrumental in me picking up the pen (keyboard) again with Samantha reading my unpolished first draft and encouraging me (with great force) to stick with it. The old cliché is true of her in that, without her, none of this would have come about. Her words had a driving force second only to that of her mum, Jean and it spurred me on.

My other daughter Donna paved a way for me to wipe the cobwebs from many idle parts of my brain and complete an Open University course on creative writing. My son Paul has surprised me with the depth of his knowledge, and the mental agility and poetic finesse of his encouragement. Together they have brought me to this point with their encouragement. The structure of their support has been amazing and I thank them.

They’ll now be waiting for a punch line.

There isn’t one.

This author central account might confuse some people owing to my having earlier created a Facebook page under the pseudonym of Len Grisdal. I have since changed it, but I had chosen the name Len Grisdal for writing, due to it being an exact anagram of my surname Gillanders. I since decided to use the name my parents chose for me. I haven’t given up on Len Grisdal, though, and might revive it for any books that fall outside my normal genre – or any that I might be too embarrassed to be associated with directly.

Three of the books I have so far written are of a time travel genre. What can I say? I enjoy time travel! They are mostly between 90,000 to 100,000 words plus in length, but I was thinking of doing a few shorter ones for a younger audience. Get back to writing for the kids, my grandkids now that my kids have all grown up, and left me here on my own, talking to myself and putting my utterances down on paper. . .well, on a screen!

If you have any serious, or even non-serious, but non-hostile suggestions or comments, please feel free to write to me at my email address of dgfh3154@gmail.com and if possible, I will respond.

Thank you for taking the time to read this.

Take care and stay safe.