Michael Burr was born in Aberdeen, Scotland, many years ago and went to New Zealand at the age of 18 where he trained as a teacher and indulged to the full his passion for playing rugby football. Master's degrees in History and Education have informed his teaching at every level of the NZ education system from primary to university, and in every type of educational institution. Historical fiction is his preferred writing genre, and students in NZ, Australia and England have doubtless grown heartily sick of his oft-quoted maxim that they will be the poorer if they forget the fact that History is about real people in real situations. Because of this, and because of his conviction that truth is often stranger than fiction, his carefully-researched stories use actual events as a framework and feature real people within them. Other interests include woodturning, music and exploring the NZ countryside in his converted bus with wife Yvonne and two attack-trained Parisian Mastiffs (aka poodles).