Why did I decide to write? And why did I write this book? Well… that is a long story. But, lucky for you, I happen to enjoy telling stories. To understand the ending, you need to first understand the beginning—the foundation upon which everything else was built. So… let’s start there!

I started out like most writers by being a veracious reader. In my case, this happened a long time ago. The year was 1998 and a little 11-year-old boy named Louis had just attended his first book fair hosted by his primary school. He didn’t have much money, just what he’d been able to save up from the pocket money he gets for helping his mother clean their apartment. Nevertheless, he saw a book that peaked his interests. That book was Sweet Valley Twins, “The Haunted House”. Later that same day he started reading it… first during break, then between classes, and eventually under the table while teachers weren’t looking. Who needs math class when you have this wonderful new world full of cool new friends that you can just jump into and escape for a while?

After that book, I spent the next few years reading every single Sweet Valley book I could get my little hands on. The school library, the public library in the city, and all the bookstores. In just a few years I read almost all of the books from this series. In between I discovered Harry Potter, books that quickly became a new favourite. My reading further expanded to many other books through the years and included the Twilight saga, the books by Kathy Reich, The Secret Circle books by LJ Smith, and The Magicians by Lev Grossman.

Over time, however, my love for books and reading started to wane. The more I tried looking for books to read, giving them a shot by reading the first 50 pages, the more I realized that the magic was gone. Eventually, the realization finally dawned on me: I’ve been reading hundreds of books, and none had any gay characters. I was living in the real world—where gay men are constantly erased from existence—and being transported to worlds in books that simply offer me more of the same! What I needed was a book that was: 

1. Written by a Gay man (#OwnVoices)

2. Features a Gay protagonist (#GayLit)

3. Features a Gay romance/couple (#MMRomance)

4. Does NOT feature or focus on sex (#YA)

5. Is Genre Fiction that is Witchy/Magical/Paranormal (#Fantasy, #WitchLit)

This put me on the war path to find the book that my heart, body, and soul had been longing to read from the very beginning. But—and this is a big but—I simply could not find any. None that meets all of the criteria. Very few fantasy novels are actually written by men; let alone gay ones. Even fewer books in this genre are centered on a gay male character and involves a gay paranormal romance subplot. And… when they meet at least two of these criteria… they are often very “adult”. So, I could read them but would end up having to skip many pages every now-and-then just to not face graphic or explicit sex scenes. Which, by the way, is the main reason why adults end up reading YA flavoured books well into their thirties: sexuality and the love of literature co-exist on two parallel planes and need not be conflated.

And that… is how we got to here. I finally realized that if the book I want to read does not exist then somebody needs to write it. I sat down with a laundry list of all the things I wanted in a book: all the things that made me enjoy reading in the first place. After spending some time creating a rough plot outline—which quickly mutated and spawned into an idea for a series of 4 main books—I started writing Ravenbrook. It started out as a character named Seth and his mom, perhaps because I was raised by a single mother. They move to small town, because we also moved and I know about starting over. It centered on discovering a magical identity, a metaphor for discovering you are gay that also enables the paranormal angle I love. It includes a healthy dose of mystery, secrets, and legacy, and takes place in a picturesque yet spooky town.

I’m not going to lie, in the beginning writing was scary because the only writing I’ve ever done was for my school newspaper, my master’s dissertation, my PhD thesis, and the eight research articles derived from them. However! I was surprised to find that all of those years of reading paid off because I already knew what makes a book good. That is how we got Ravenbrook. I’m not going to waste time comparing my book to existing books or telling you who is likely to read Ravenbrook. There simply aren’t existing books that tick all of the boxes that Ravenbrook does. Rather, it is intended to fill a gap. Beyond this, I have no doubt that many readers will read and love this book… while others will not “get it” or have a love-hate relationship with it. Both are fine with me. C’est la vie!

I’ve posted the first polished draft of Ravenbrook (#1) of Water and Wonder on Wattpad and it was subsequently nominated for the Watty Awards in 2025. I have already queried several agents but remain unrepresented. Currently I plan to self-publish the books. I’ve already drafted the plot for the second book (Ravenbrook (#2) of Air and Illusion) and started writing parts of it, while the follow-ups—Ravenbrook (#3) of Earth and Essence and Ravenbrook (#4) of Fire and Fury—are also planned. 

Birthplace: South Africa

Star Sign: Cancer

Myers-Briggs: INFP (mediator)

IQ: 142

Orientation: Gay

Pronouns: He/Him

Education: PhD Genetics (University of the Free State)

Languages: English, Afrikaans, French (Learning: Norwegian)

Fave Author: L.J. Smith (The Vampire Diaries, The Secret Circle)

Fave Series: Charmed

Fave Movie: Dances with Wolves OR The Broken Hearts Club: A Romantic Comedy

Currently reading: Sweet Valley University series, by Francine Pascal