John Francis Haines

John has had four collections of poetry published: Other Places, Other Times (1981), Spacewain (1989), After the Android Wars (1992), all from House of Moonlight, and Orders From the Bridge (Pentagraph 1996). His poetry has appeared in over 150 publications in the UK, USA, Canada. Australia, Italy, and Romania. He is also Editor of Handshake, a newsletter for science fiction poets.

John Haines was born in Chelmsford in 1947, and educated at the Hull High School for Commerce. He has lived and worked in Warrington since the early 1970's, taking early retirement in 1999 after nearly 30 years in local government.

  J C Hartley  

 -- was born in Reading in 1958 but was raised in Cumbria with occasional forays for inconclusive further education. Moving to Bury (Lancashire) in 1988 and Rawtenstall in Rossendale the following year, coincided with his first sustained success in small press publication. A relatively small and interrupted output is down to becoming a father, becoming a publisher, and innate laziness. The booklet Custody Of The Empire (Pentagraph 1996) preceded his self-published collections.

Giovanni Malito

The late Giovanni Malito, an Italo-Canadian who resided in Ireland, was widely published, and edited the quarterly broadsheet The Brobdingnagian Times.

Brian Maycock

Brian Maycock currently works in the North and Midlands Press Office of British Gas. He's concentrating on short stories and a radio play at the moment, though is hoping to write some more poetry -- as soon as he gets over this complete lack of inspiration which is driving him slightly crazy.

   Steve Sneyd

Steve Sneyd has published many collections of poetry, including In Coils of Earthen Hold (University of Salzburg 1993) and Gestaltmacher, Gestaltmacher, Make Me a Gestalt (Four Quarters Press 2000). His work has appeared in more than 1000 magazines, anthologies, etc., in many countries, and has been translated into Italian, Polish, and Romanian. His poetry has been broadcast in the UK, USA, and Russia. He has been nominated five times for the annual Rhysling SF Poetry Award, while he won the Peterson Trophy in 1996. 

Steve has also published over 500 short stories, including appearances in The Year's Best Horror Stories and The Best of Whispers.

He has edited the SF poetry anthology Dreamers on the Sea of Fate (Sol Publications 1999) and runs Hillside Press, which specialises in publishing bibliographical research into SF poetry, and reprinting forgotten classics in the field.

A Chemistry BSc, Steve Sneyd has worked as a copywriter in many fields, including engineering publicity and newspaper advertising. Since 1989 he has been a creative writing tutor. Born in 1941, he has lived near Huddersfield since the 1960's. 

Phillip A Ellis

Phillip Ellis was born in Traralgon, Australia, and has since gradually moved northwards, to Banora Point. He is currently on a disability pension for schizophrenia, which doesn't stop him writing poetry, and attempting criticism of others' poems. He is currently engaged in a number of projects when he can work, including several bibliographies, of Arthur Machen and Christopher Brennan, as well as concordances of other poets' works. He is slowly working towards his first collection of poems.

(The originals of the photos of John Francis Haines and Steve Sneyd were taken at the Purple Patch Poetry Convention, Birmingham, 2001. Used here courtesy of Gerald England.