Biography

I’m not keen on this part, because I tend to be someone who hides away from the limelight (clearly not true). So, I’ve waded through the web, and the layout of the information below is basically adapted from one of the millions of Robert Pattinson fan sites. (Ermm, who would have thought he needed more than one?)

Name: Dante Harker (I’d like to claim that I was born with this name, but sadly I had to steal it off of a pensioner – she’s dead now).

Height: 6 foot – or at least I used to be, in my special shoes, which I’d had for years! Until  my partner crept down in the night and burnt them as a sacrifice to the orthopaedic fairy!

Born: At home, in a dark, almost black, mining village, which like the black mountains in Wales is not actually black. (There is a very cool story about my birth, it involve an angel – no really – ask me about it). So, I was born somewhere in the north of England, near Sheffield, though not near enough that I have a case of the de-dars i.e. ‘Dhey don’t do dat, do day?’.

Favourite food: Hard to say, my taste buds are a little lacking so I tend to just shovel food in – not really big on the tasting part!

Favourite drink: It used to be diet cola, the stuff is woefully addictive and at one point I was spending $100 a month on it. Now I don’t have $100 a month, which kinda kicked the habit for me :)

Pets: I have a kitten called Crumble. I wasn’t going to say kitten as soon enough he’d be a cat. But actually, he’s a Maine Coon and they take three years to get to full size (big enough to bring down a man), so I’ve got time to remember to up date this part.

Pet hates: The fact that I can never spell ‘favourite’ or ‘available’ – what’s that about? Or that people can’t answer more than one question at a time if you put several questions into emails.

Writings: This website; my first novel ‘Hell Unleashed’ (not yet published – not enough commas), ‘Therapy’ (better now it has enough commas), White Boxes – fun tale of being single at 30 and ‘The Ten Commandments‘, a collection of my best short stories – some are amazing! And I’ve just finished Escape the Race – a cool travel tail about escaping the 9-5 and doing something different.

Also check out Tourist – it’s very different to my other writings – it’s a horror of the sickest kind and not for the faint of heart.

I’ve also been doing a ton of work for writing competitions and I’m working on the odd play here and there so really you should just check out my Portfolio page.

Work: Hard to say, other than I work really hard on whatever my mind locks on to!

So far I’ve been a: a landscape gardener, garden centre worker, Rentokil Plant Technician (looking after house plants), Befriending Co-ordinator, Director of a Mental Health Charity, Private Counsellor and Counselling Tutor, Fundraising Manager, Student Placement Manager, Manchester Team and Regional Fundraising Manger for The Big Issue (my longest job title yet) plus diving instructor. I’ve even been paid as a writer so I can throw that in for good measure.

Currently I am a lot of things, so it depends on which day you ask and what mood I’m in when I answer.

Countries Visited: UK (England, Scotland and Wales), France, Italy, Spain, Germany, Holland, Sweden, Austria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Switzerland, Portugal, Turkey, Cyprus, Egypt, Thailand, Laos, Malaysia, Indonesia (including Komodo Island), Philippines, Australia, North America, Mexico, Costa Rica, Panama, Guatemala, Ireland, Sri Lanka and The Vatican.

Place I’d most like to visit: Hard to say, the world is such a big and exciting place. I would guess it’s a toss up between Bora Bora – or Madagascar – I really want to see all those cartoon animals!