About Christopher Cartwright
I grew up in the Blue Mountains of NSW, Australia. I struggled to learn to read until I was eight years old. In fact, it was my Mum, whose bribery of pocket money based on books I read, who finally taught me to read. As it was, I had a stubborn streak, and a particularly mercenary mindset for a child, so I decided at that moment that I would excel at English – although I had no idea that I would end up, one day, spending thousands of hours up writing my own novels. Where I lacked mental acumen, I gained in physical ability and imagination. I excelled at sports and became involved in outdoor adventure hobbies, such as trail bikes, canyoning, SCUBA diving, and sailing.
Oh, and see that sweet Cessna 152? That was the first plane I ever learned to fly.
When I was 10 years old I wrote my first book. It was called “The Day Tasmania Seceded” and was about 300 pages long. I was nothing if I wasn’t determined. In my mind, I thought it was going to be a Best Seller in Action and Adventure. Something that was going to be made into a movie one day. I think I’d even planned Arnold Schwarzenegger as the star. Unfortunately, not everyone who read the book had the same imagination as myself, and the general consensus was that it made for a fantastic Comedy. It wasn’t what I had in mind, but the seed had been planted and I’d decided that I was going to be an author.
A year later, my next book had been written, “Last Human” which depicted an epic tale of the last surviving sentient being in the universe, and his retrospection of all existence. By the end of it, he realizes that he is still inside a game, which has been specifically adapted to make the player believe they were entirely part of that world. So, the twist in the tail, led to the hero, make an extraordinary leap of faith, and waking up in his real life. I actually quite like the story, but having read it since then, I just didn’t have the tools of the craft, to write the story. About two or maybe three years later, “The Matrix” came out, and it pretty much removed the whole “shock” factor of my story.
Life went on and I finished high school with plans of becoming an author, but very little worldly experience to back me up. I was advised to get a job, get some life experience (as though my first 18 years wasn’t enough), and then return to writing a little more worldly. So, because of this, and the simple need to earn some money, I found a job as a Porter in a hospital. Man was that a great job. I went from being an 18 year old kid with no “life experience” to draw from, to working in a major hospital, gaining insight into the life and death. By the time I wanted more out of life, I had determined that the only job involving hospitals that I really wanted to do, was become a Paramedic. I spent the next 3 years at Charles Sturt University, Bathurst, obtaining a Bachelor Degree in Paramedics.
Since then, I’ve spent 11 years working full time as a paramedic. I’ve worked in two of our major cities and in the outback, where the paramedic responds alone and is often the only medically trained person for hundreds of miles. It was a great time of my life, and is still, just about the best job in the world – but it wasn’t writing and I wanted to tell some stories.
In 2013, my wife Maricris, and I had our first child, Elise. Like all children, Elise was a wonderful addition to our lives. Unfortunately, she, like so many others, didn’t see the need for sleep. We quickly discovered that if we gave her a dream feed (one of those sleeps while she was still in the cot) at about midnight, she would sleep through. So, one of us had to stay up late. As it was, my wife, had to feed her early. So, I found myself staying up late – every night. And this reintroduced a time in my life to write. Over the next two years I wrote “The Price of Retribution” – an Historical Fiction/ Adventure, set on a diamond heist gone wrong and revenge. It wasn’t the best, but I was happy with it. It showed me that I could write something that other people might actually want to read, and it got me writing again.
In 2015 I had our second child, Matthew and I went part time at work to spend a little more time at home with the family. This lead to my ability to fulfil my dream and become a successful author. I had just completed “The Last Airship” and had plans for another 8 books in the series. The book was good (or so I believed) and the first twenty people who read my draft, including my publisher, Ashton Publishing Group, editors, proof readers, and friends agreed. It was just the right amount of support to make me take my writing to the next step. I’m just about to complete the second book in the series, “The Mahogany Ship,” and am looking forward to starting the following, “Rogue Wave.”
I’m really enjoying writing, and so long as people keep on reading what I have to say, I’ll keep publishing.
So, for now, back to writing…
Christopher Cartwright