Gareth started life in England but grew up mostly in rural and suburban New Zealand with his mum, dad and younger brother. This was a fairly normal upbringing, apart from some of the weird things going on in his head, which led to him writing all sorts of stories from a very young age.

He pursued a career in journalism and ended up, mostly by accident, as the sports editor for a rural New Zealand newspaper despite not really liking or even knowing much about rugby.

This career led eventually to covering events as grandiose as the Rugby World Cup and the Le Mans 24hr race. He has been sworn at by John Daly for being too quiet, and once fell in a harbour while taking photos of a boat.

Later, he moved to the UK, left journalism, went back to it, and left again.

While working in PR for the NHS he had to attend a lecture in which a clinical researcher described exploding pigs in excruciating detail; he fled to a nearby pub and, while enjoying a pint of beer, wrote the first chapter of what would become They Fell to Earth.

He spent the best part of seven years trying to finish it.

He now lives in Staffordshire, and still works for the NHS but no longer has to write about exploding pigs.