I am the wrong side of older and I have been a journalist and writer since the age of 17.At 19, I went to Vietnam on spec to try and cover the war in the firm belief that I could not be any sort of writer until, as Hemingway put it, I had been as drunk as could be, suffered a broken heart and experienced war. Naturally at 19, I believed I had the first two under my belt and just needed the third. After 18 months of it, I swore I would never do anything as stupid ever again. Since then, I have earned a living as a writer safely in Scotland, with occasional lapses of judgement taking me to Sarajevo, Romania Albania and Kosovo. To satisfy a craving for action, I took up re-enactment, joining The Vikings group.The Oathsworn Series began in 2007 and runs to four titles: The Whale Road, The Wolf Sea, The White Raven and The Prow Beast, all available from HarperCollins. The Kingdom Series, which I am writing now, is set in the time of Robert the Bruce and William Wallace – the first title is The Lion Wakes.