John Gwynne studied and lectured at Brighton University. He has played double bass in a rock 'n' roll band, packed soap in a soap factory, and dug ditches for a landscaping crew. He is married with four children, eight goats, five sheep, three dogs, two horses, and three ducks, and lives in East Sussex, where he is part of a Viking reenactment group. When not writing or running around after his wife and her crazy animals, he can be found standing in a shield wall with his three sons about him.