Neil was born and raised in the suburbs of south London. Growing up in a near bookless home save a Mrs Beeton's and a 1960s Guiness tome, bringing him to a writer's chair was always going to be a struggle and, indeed, one that took 39 years.He attended university in Wales, then headed abroad, first on large wandering travels that usually ended with him sharing fields with goats, then in an attempt to get himself a real job, teaching English to everyone from Israelis to Italians.After fifteen years of trying, often in vain, at getting others to better use his language, he jumped on a cargo ship in the north of Italy and sailed across the oceans to South America, where he is currently enjoying a sabbatical year.He began entering flash fiction contests online in the spring of 2009 and caught the writing bug. His stories now appear in a wide range of print and online publications and he's been known to tackle pretty much anything as long as there are no goblins, unicorns or lost rings involved.His writing influences include a whole host of wordsmiths from Thomas Hardy to Garland, calling at Dahl, Pinter, Arthur C Clarke, Arthur Miller, Irving and Coben en route.In his spare time, he still dabbles in teaching and runs a large education website.His author blog can be found here: http://esllou.blogspot.com