Jonathan was writing stories from an early age — he recently uncovered his version of Count Dracula, probably written around age 11. Inspired by Douglas Adams, Terrance Dicks, Roald Dahl and latterly Dean Koontz, he was captivated by fantasy and science fiction. He still remembers queuing for Star Wars at the local cinema in 1977, and published Doctor Who stories for a fanzine called Cosmic Masque in his early teens.

After studying Systems Design at the University of the West of England (Bristol), Jonathan spent much of his career in the IT industry, working across the UK, Estonia, Bulgaria and Malaysia. A career highlight was leading Skype for Windows, managing teams in London, Prague, Tallinn, Tartu and Palo Alto following Microsoft’s acquisition of Skype.

His international travels inspired two non-fiction works: Buying a Property in Bulgaria (How To Books, 2005) and co-authored Buying in Bulgaria (Apogee Publishing, 2006).

A trip to India and Canada — and the purchase of a special bronze compass — sparked the idea for The Secret on the Second Shelf. He completed several revisions with Cornerstones literary consultancy, publishing the Kindle edition on Bonfire Night 2015, the paperback in 2016, and a hardcover in January 2026.

Jonathan is a father to three children. When not writing, he enjoys photography, travel and cinema. On sabbatical he studied practical filmmaking at the Met Film School in Ealing and released his first short film, No Such Thing As Monsters, in May 2017.

He is thrilled to announce that the audiobook — narrated by award-winning British narrator David Sweeney-Bear of DSB Audio — is planned for release in May 2026.