Mark was born in Wanstead, Essex in 1966, but was raised for the most part of his school years near Carmarthen in West Wales. In 1982 he won a scholarship to join the RAF as a pilot and was an operational pilot in the RAF for over twenty years. During that time he flew for three years on the Victor air-to-air refuelling tankers, for four and a half years as a flying instructor on Jet Provost and Tucano training aircraft and for eight years at Brize Norton, Oxon, as copilot, captain and instructor on the VC10 aircraft.
Mark started writing his first novel in 1995 due to a throwaway line! He was bored in the Falkland Islands as the weather was too bad to do any flying and, in a fit of pique at Mark’s waspishness with the inactivity, his navigator said “Oh for goodness sake do something useful. Go write a book or something!” Never one to back down from a challenge, Mark made a deal that he would write the Prologue to a book and if the said navigator liked it, then Mark would write the rest of the book. Three days later, the Prologue to The Forging of the Sword was dutifully handed over to a positive response and The Darkweaver Legacy was born.
Eighteen months later, the first draft of The Forging of the Sword was completed. It took a further three and a half years before it was to find its way into bookshops, but once it did the response from readers of all ages was incredibly positive. A year after Book 1 was launched; Book 2 – Trail of the Huntress was released. Book 3 – First Sword followed that onto the bookshelves on 1 August 02 and Book 4, the final volume of the series launched on 30 August 03. The new title is The Chosen One and concludes the story begun in the first three books.
The Darkweaver Legacy was always planned to be a series of four easy to read novels of heroic fantasy. The reviews have all said that they are an unusual and enjoyable mix of reality and fantasy. Mark combines believable characters in a medieval military setting with magic, sorcery and wizardry in a fast moving action adventure. This is a great series of books for children looking for something to read after Harry Potter, particularly if they are not yet ready for the complexity of The Lord of the Rings. That said, judging by the number of adult readers that have read and enjoyed the stories to date, this series seems to appeal to almost anyone who likes reading fantasy.
With the huge success of the Darkweaver Legacy, Mark was signed by Literary Agency Mulcahy & Viney who, in turn, negotiated a contract for a new series with publishing giant, Simon & Schuster. The deal was for the first two books of a new series. The first, Imperial Spy, overlaps with the original series, picking up with some of the minor characters and taking the storyline off on an entirely new tack. Imperial Assassin, was released in Nov 06 and Imperial Traitor in Sep 07. His latest set of stories is called the Dragon Orb series. These are set in an entirely different fantasy world, with forays into World War I France. Firestorm launched in Aug 08, Shadow in Jan 09, Longfang in April 09 andAurora in Aug 09.
Mark is now working on a new trilogy that will mark a distinct departure from his previous work. The Devil’s Trianglewill be an unusual mix of contemporary drama meeting science fiction thriller. The first of these is currently scheduled to release in Spring 2011.
Mark Robson has built a considerable reputation as a visiting speaker and speaks in many schools. He is comfortable speaking to audiences of all ages, though his stories tend to appeal most to years 5 to 10. His talks cover flying, writing and personal motivation as well as writing workshops on basic fictional writing techniques.
Mark steadfastly denied rumours that he wrote whilst he flew! (Though he did admit to making notes every now and then!!) Mark left the RAF in December 2005 and is now a full time author. He is married to Sarah, a Barrister, and has two young children.
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