One-time soldier, father to a London architect and a Johannesburg businesswoman, marketing consultant and educator – Alan’s wide experience of life and human nature comes through clearly in his writing. In particular, his years as an officer (decorated) with the men of a black paratroop battalion in the Zimbabwe-Rhodesian conflict placed him in a unique position to pen 'Of Land and Spirits', widely recognised as the defining novel of the Southern African Bush War. Keen observation of the after-effects of that conflict on ex-combatants over several decades led him to write a second story set in present-day Europe and Africa. His third novel, 'A Salient in Flanders', takes readers to a different war and the battlefields of northern France. It has been reviewed as one of the most believable accounts of the Great War. A standalone sequel to 'Salient' is scheduled for release mid-2024. Alan lives in Alicante, Spain, the country to which he moved permanently after half a century of life in Africa. Needing to be sure of what he was in for before he moved, he first walked the Iberian Peninsula from east to west, a pilgrimage of 900 kilometres. His respect for the Spanish people and their language comes across in all interaction with him, though he readily admits that his heart will forever belong to the small city of Bulawayo, provincial capital of Matabeleland, Zimbabwe, the country where he grew up.