James Ball is the author and creator of History’s Heroes and Villains, a collection of short graphic novels which is due for publication by Penguin Random House in July 2027. He has also written over a dozen school textbooks and revision guides. These include the best-selling Invasion, Plague and Murder series for Oxford University Press, which is currently the most widely used KS3 course in UK schools. He considers himself a generalist and, after spending nearly 20 years as a history teacher and head of department, his main area of focus and expertise is writing history books for children and young adults. However, he has also had a pre-Columbian history of the peoples of North America published by Flame Tree, which is squarely aimed at adult readers. James lives in beautiful, historic St Albans with his partner and daughter.