Who am I?

My real-life name is Andrew Wellington, though until 2001 I went by the name Andrew Gillett – the name change is the product of a democratic process and is a whole other subplot. The son of a British soldier, I was in Germany when I first realized I was anywhere. From birth until about nine years old, my family didn’t stay put much, then from 1981 till 2000 we didn’t move at all. Then I upped stumps and buggered off to the US and I’ve received mail at at least thirteen different addresses.

What is my background?

I studied electronics engineering in the City of Bath as a Ministry of Defence apprentice. After that I landed a cool job working on semiconductor assembly equipment for GEC Plessey Semiconductors. When Mitel bought them out and the assembly facility closed, I moved to a different job where it cost me money to go to work but then I landed another cool job back with the Ministry of Defence, where I worked until boarding a Continental flight through Houston to Pensacola, Florida. After finally getting a green card, I had a series of crap jobs before raising my right hand for the US Army to spend the next six years fixing aviation radios, completing one tour in Iraq. From there I got the best job I ever had at American Eurocopter, but after two and a half years I left for East Tennessee and Bell Helicopter Textron, who thoughtfully offered me $7/hr less and effectively demoted me to a trainee. In 2014 I gave them my two-weeks’ notice and have been split between trying to build a homestead and completing a Bachelor’s degree in General Studies at ETSU. Six credit hours short and I’m having to push the pause button again because there’s so much to do around the property.

As far as writing is concerned, in my younger days I wrote a number of poems and short stories, most of which I won’t publish here (although some of the stories might be revamped and published) and while working at GEC Plessey/Mitel I penned a novel that I’ve left in the initial draft phase for the last twenty years.

What are my influences?

I’ve always enjoyed sci-fi and speculative fiction. I was – and still am – a fan of Terry Nation’s work, such as Doctor Who, Blake’s 7 and the Survivors TV shows, and I’ve enjoyed both Arthur C Clarke and Isaac Asimov. As for my own stories, they have all – with one sole exception – tried to reflect the realities of life inasmuch as there are no happy endings; a happy ending is a story that isn’t finished yet. Which tilts me firmly into dystopian fiction.

Where am I?

I’m currently living in East Tennessee and hoping to add sheep to the farm next year

Questions? Comments? Complaints?

Easiest way to contact me is on my ‘Contact Me‘ page. Just fill out the form and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can.

Thanks for stopping by!