Colin R. Parsons was born on November the 8th 1960 in the Rhondda Valley in South Wales. It's a beautiful part of the world with it's mountains, lakes and quiet surroundings. The R. in the middle of his name is Ryan and was given to him by his grandfather. He has always enjoyed writing from a small boy. He was never any good at maths or science and writing seemed more natural. He quoted: 'Some people love sport or painting or poetry. Not for me I’m afraid, but writing always took me to another world where I could forget about all the boring stuff as a child.'
In his youth he was a member of Tonypandy library (and still is), but he wasn’t an avid reader. 'I used to mostly listen to audiocassettes of H.G.Wells, ‘The Time Machine' and 'The Lost World' by Sir Authur Conan Doyle, on my headphones' He said, when he was supposed to be sleeping, which his parents thought he was. C.S. Lewis; The Lion,The Witch and The Wardrobe also excited his imagination, he had to read it out loud in his reading class in Williamstown Primary school. The thought of walking through a piece of furniture and visiting another world, ‘blew my mind.’ He said. He hated reading in class, but ironically in his later years he would be leading talks in Assembly halls and reading chapters in front of hundreds of pupils.
These days he enjoy's reading the work of new authors like: Kenneth Oppel...AirBorn, Sky Breaker and Star Climber. He also likes Gone and Hunger by Michael Grant. Fantasy plays a big part in his life. He adores author's like Christopher Paolini, 'Eragon and Eldest series,' J K Rowling with of course 'Harry Potter,' and Philip Pullman's 'His Dark Materials,' series another popular author. He's also a big fan of Angie Sage her books, Magyk, Flyte and Physik, Queste and Syren; are wonderful reads. 'I have been told by one of my fans, that my writing is similar to Angie Sage. My wife is totally into Chris D'Lacey, which I have read The Fire Within and Icefire, but I haven't had a chance to read the rest of the series.' He said.
When Colin left school at sixteen he also left writing for quite a few years and didn’t start again until his early thirties. He wrote a short story called 'Halfway home,' and emailed to an online publishers website called: Crystal Serenades Publications, where eventually he put a lot of his short stories, adults and childrens. CSP brought out an anthology on adult horror and that was his first break. Since then he's self published a series called Wizards' Kingdom with Athena Press in 2005,' also Wizards' Kingdom 'The Obelisk of Ashmar... Athena Press 2006.' The last instalment of Wizards' Kingdom is 'Jarraks Darkness... Athena Press 2007.' The clever and captivating art-work for the trilogy was professionally applied by Derek Jones, his long time friend.
On September 24th 2009, though he signed with North Staffordshire Press, a publishing house based in Stoke-on-Trent. Malcolm Henson the chief editor and owner travelled down to Cardiff with his assistant Kevin Percival. With Colin's wife Janice present he signed a contract in the Louis Restaurant at 1.45pm. His fourth book, The Curious World of Shelley Vendor was launched at Borders Cardiff on November 7th 2009.
Likes and Dislikes
He loves Formula One motor sport, 'I find it thrilling and exciting' he says. He also loves Sci-Fi such as Dr Who and Star Trek and StarWars and of course Fantasy. Strawberry milkshakes and Thourntons liquorice/toffee sweets are his downfall... he also loves taking long walks during the summer with his wife. 'I love visiting Laugharne in west Wales near Pendine where Dylan Thomas lived and created his most popular poetry.'
He hates cold, dark, long winters. Stepping out of the shower when there is no towel and listening to people tell you how important they are. He also hates it when people promise things and don't keep their word.