Christopher Clargo is the author of the fantasy novel, ‘The Stones of Valtara’. He lives in South Wales with his wife and two children. When he’s not writing, Christopher works as a full-time teacher and also plays bass in a cover band. Like many children growing up in the ’70s, Christopher was a fan of the raft of sci-fi series that aired on television. And if Dr Who, Logan’s Run, Star Trek and Gerry Anderson’s UFO weren’t enough to fuel his imagination, along came George Lucas to blow a generation away with Star Wars. Like so many of his peers, it profoundly affected Christopher’s view on life. He began to look up at the stars, wondering what it would be like to explore the depths of space. His introduction to fantasy came in the form of the wonderful BBC Children’s television programme, Jackanory. In 1979, in its 18th season, an adaptation of The Hobbit was broadcasted with the legendary Bernard Cribbins playing Bilbo. It was a truly magical experience—one which got Christopher into fantasy role-playing games. However, this interest was short-lived as a new high-tech craze exploded onto the scene—video gaming. Rather than choosing a gaming console, Christopher nagged his parents for a microcomputer which allowed him to learn how to program. At the age of ten, Christopher moved to Cumbria. Whilst he loved the breathtaking beauty of the mountains, lakes and rivers and the new friends he made, he struggled to adapt to life in his new school. He lost a lot of confidence and as a result, he fell behind with his education. Then, after three years away, his family returned to Wales. And although it was tough moving into his third school in as many years, he gradually caught up and left school with a respectable amount of qualifications. From there, he studied A-Levels and then went to university, specialising in mathematics and computing. In his third year, he worked at the Royal Army Pay Corps as an analyst programer but after completing his degree, he took a different career path—he became a teacher. After teaching for a few years, Christopher became an ICT consultant for a local education authority and was part of a team that won a number of national education awards. In 2010, Christopher returned to full-time teaching. Although he still specialises in digital learning, he has a passion for teaching English, history and science. And that’s when his interest in writing stories began. Christopher and his wife love going to concerts. They’ve seen many bands over the years including Kings of Leon, The Manic Street Preachers, The Stereophonics, The Killers, First Aid Kit, Of Monsters and Men and Alter Bridge. His favourite concert was way back in 1990, when he saw The Alarm play Newport Centre. They were magnificent! More recently, Christopher has been visiting conference centres for a different reason. With a daughter who competes in cosplay masquerades, he can often be found ambling through the exhibition halls of all manner of conferences with a leshen from the Witcher or Eto Yoshimura from Tokyo Ghoul walking alongside him. To be honest, he doesn’t mind going because he gets the chance to see her perform and also spend time with his son testing out the latest tech, playing retro video games and watching King of Bots. Unless you haven’t worked it out yet, Christopher’s a bit of a geek…Or is it a nerd? Probably both. He also enjoys walking his dog, Alfie and going fishing with his son when the family are holidaying on the Jurassic Coast. They’ve spent many happy hours relaxing on Chesil Beach regardless of whether they catch anything or not—usually the latter. Christopher’s other great passion is playing music. He’s been in a few bands over the years and is currently in a cover band playing around the clubs and pubs of South East Wales. They play a range of songs from over the decades which they hope will please the crowd—not that many people care after a day of drinking during a Six Nations weekend!