Author Profile - Malcolm Rose

Author of: The Outer Reaches series, Animal Lab, Four Degrees More and Asteroid (Shades 2.0 series) and Connor’s Brain.

Malcolm Rose was born in Coventry in 1953 and began writing stories as a hobby while taking a PhD in chemistry at York University. Then, his girlfriend Barbara (now wife) was the only person he allowed to read his stories. It was Barbara who suggested that he ought to try to get a novel published and, after a lot of arm-twisting, she persuaded him to send off a manuscript. His first novel, Rift, was published in 1985. Malcolm became a Lecturer in Chemistry at various universities. The job left very little time for writing fiction which he did mostly after midnight. Perhaps that’s why his strongest scenes were set on dark nights.

Malcolm put aside his test-tubes in 1996 to become a full-time author for young people. In other words, he used to add chemicals together, brew them up a bit and investigate what happened, but now he mixes fictional characters, stirs in a bit of conflict and investigates what happens. Either can be colourful or even explosive. He lives with Barbara in Stocksbridge near Sheffield and he has now written over 40 crime stories, science-based thrillers and mysteries, often highlighting the forensic science that lurks behind police investigations. He believes that science provides an endless source of original ideas for a novelist because it is always discovering and making new things. One thing has never changed: before sending any new novel to a publisher, he always reads it aloud to Barbara.

His books are appropriate for teenage and pre-teen readers. Malcolm has won the Angus Book Award twice and the Lancashire Children’s Book of the Year Award.

www.malcolmrose.co.uk

Read our interview with Malcolm on the Ransom blog.