Andy Crosby Bio

Andy Crosby is a writer, audiobook creator and publisher. Originally from Scunthorpe, a steel town in the UK, he always loved stories, and after a long and varied teaching career, decided to pursue his passion. From an early age he wore his fingers away on a manual typewriter. Luckily computer keyboards are kinder.

   To be a writer, one needs first to be a reader, and he has read a lot. An awful lot. Brer Rabbit led to the heady heights of Joan Aitken’s Arabelle and Mortimer, and of course to Roald Dahl. In his teenage years he read everything Science Fiction, including most of Frank Herbert’s Dune canon and lots of Robert Heinlein’s work. If it had a spaceship and aliens on the cover, it was devoured. Douglas Adams’ writing was pure heaven. At university in Sheffield, Andy discovered Bernard Malamud’s writing and became a lifelong fan. Malamuds set the bar. His ‘God’s Grace’ opened up a world of possibilities which Angela Carter also exploited, especially with her ‘Infernal Desire Machines of Dr Hoffman.’ Throughout his formative years, Andy kept writing, building up his chops with short fiction and attempts at novels. He wrote a prophetic story about an actor who dies during filming, with his scenes completed by a computer simulation (Gladiator anyone?); and a long children’s story about a war between words and numbers for the Tree of Knowledge, tipping his hat to The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster. Not content with the form of novels, he also read plays by illuminati such as George Bernard Shaw, Ibsen, Shaffer, Tennessee Williams, and many by the good bard himself. Dialogue's a great means to unpack characters. Description's a work in progress. 

   Andy lived in Teesside for a while with a view of Roseberry Topping, a prominent landmark, and the local quarries feature in many of his writings. Other settings that creep into his work are call centres, balls (the social and frolicking kinds), schools, wild west saloons, cafes, hospitals and police stations. Oh yes, and Greece. Corfu.

   He lives in Leeds with his lady wife and three children, one of whom is named after a character in one of his books, plus Smudge the cat. He likes to think of himself as musical, since he’s played the trombone longer than he's been able to read. Please see the adjacent page about Andy’s alter ego, Jan Hardwick, who writes the children’s books, all to do with musical shenanigans. Andy is currently  downsizing his book collection before its gravity rivals the moon. He is currently rereading Angela Carter's works.

   The ubiquity of the internet and good quality, low-cost technology means an Indie like Andy can now do what a large publishing company does. His maxim is ’Ex cogitatione actio’ - From thought comes action.