Janus the Arrival (The Janus Trilogy Book 1) (32 page)

   
Once she’d pulled herself together and
finally managed to regain her senses, Dana reached for the shampoo bottle and
showered herself properly, washing away any telltale signs of her
self-enjoyment. Remaining under the shower for another couple of minutes, just
to ensure that all the shampoo had been thoroughly washed out of her hair, Dana
finally reached up, turned off the water. She then let herself drip dry a
little longer, before eventually stepping out and swathing herself with the
warm towel that she’d carefully placed on the radiator beforehand.
Standing on the soft material of the bath mat
that was adorned with cute drawings of penguins, which she’d purchased from one
of the local shops a week earlier. Dana gently patted down each part of her
body, and took a little extra time on the more tender spot that she’d just
satisfied between her legs. Reaching for a white plastic bottle from the middle
of the wooden shelf, which was located just by her side, she set about
massaging some essential baby oil into her already gleaming skin. After a
while, this shone even further, making it feel extremely delicate and silky
smooth to the touch. This always seemed to work well, and Dana knew it helped
to keep her skin in good condition, having suffered a few bouts of dry skin at
a much younger age. It also helped her go a nice shade of golden brown in the
summer, at least that was her theory anyway.

Michael
Stephen Harding was born in Hammersmith, London, England in October 1958. His
mother always called him
Stephen,
and
as a consequence he say’s he’s been confused since birth. He currently works
full time in Central London, is happily married and has two sons.

In 2008 he
submitted a short play entitled 'My Bench' to the Kingston Readers Festival,
which won third prize before being published in conjunction with Borders
bookshop (sadly long gone), and Kingston University London.

Stephen first
came up with the idea for Janus in the late 1980's when he used to drive to
Leeds on Sunday evenings, in order to be ready for work the next day. During
one of these journey’s, a voice on the radio suggested 'Everyone had a book in
them,' and having written down an idea on a bit of paper, this soon became a
paragraph, a page and then a chapter etc...

   
He then found an agent who seemed to love
the story, but was desperate for him to get it published by a company she
recommended, as she felt it would make a great movie. His thoughts were ‘If
it’s that good, then why do I need to pay up front?’

Stephen
continued to write in his spare time, but many years later, independent writing
had moved up a few notches. Having then read Stephen King's book 'On Writing',
he was suddenly inspired. This was just what he needed, and so he decided to
re-edit and publish his own work.
   
He’s also written two sequel’s to
Janus and another book called 'Driven to Revenge' (as yet unedited), as well as
a few plays that were submitted to the CornerHOUSE 'One Acts' over the years.

Stephen
really hates stories in which you can always guess what’s going to happen next.
Therefore he tends to twist the plot wherever he feels fit, in order to shake
up the reader. Stephen does this by calling on his endless love of books, films
and life in general, in order to get new ideas.
   
He also makes time to help out
with a local pantomime each year and spends much of his time at Chelsea
Football Club's training ground in Cobham, Surrey where his younger son plays
for the adult disabled team.

Stephen
really hopes you enjoy his work as much as he enjoyed creating it, especially
after all the amount of effort that goes in….. Just ask any author!