I've worked in film, TV and advertising for nearly thirty years.

I started out in special effects, creating spaceships and sci-fi vehicles for movies and TV shows. Later, I ran my own small visual effects studio and worked on numerous high-end ad campaigns for loads of Britain's top companies.

Using various assumed names I've written fiction and non-fiction books - serialising two for BBC radio - and have been a newspaper leader page columnist. I'm also a published landscape photographer and an award-winning movie producer, writer, and director. As a producer I've experienced every aspect of film production, from optioning and licensing novels from some of the UK's top literary agencies through to overseeing international TV delivery.

Well versed in broadcasting and PR, I've done well over 100 radio and TV interviews and in 2006 appeared in a documentary about my films on ITV. I'm equally at home writing literary novels and non-fiction books as I am writing ultra-commercial thrillers.

When creating fiction, they say you should write about what you know. I haven't seen many people get their heads blown off but I've shot TV documentaries on the hoof, done some current affairs journalism, fronted a bit to camera (which I loved), and know the TV business inside out. I've also encountered some dodgy politicians, come up against public sector crooks, and heard about the odd bent cop. NOW THE KILLING STARTS draws on all this stuff and is the first in a continuing series of tough thrillers set in and around Manchester. Featuring super-cool investigative TV journalist Hunter and his leggy blonde co-producer Vanessa, I was inspired by the years I spent running a film production company with my leggy blonde, turbo-charged wife.

I steered clear of the usual cop-and-sidekick routine. The brief I set myself was to think "high concept" and re-invent the British crime-adventure thriller for the 21st century by upping the ante and aiming at ambitious Hollywood-style, fast-action stories with a ballsy, big screen energy. Think Roger Cook meets The Matrix meets Quentin Tarantino meets The Fast and the Furious – with some Bond-scale action set pieces and some Gerry Anderson SFX thrown in for good measure – and you're halfway there.

Unlike Hunter, I'm not divorced and don't have any daughters (though I always longed for one). Instead, I've been happily married for twenty-four years and have a 27 year old son who graduated in Computer Science in 2009 and is now a software engineer.

If you want to get in touch, just drop me an email on steve [at] stevecage.com