Who is Keith Houghton?
I’m English. An Englishman. Made in England. I’d get it tattooed on my gluteus maximus, but I’m too scared of needles.
People on the European Continent mistakenly think I’m Swedish or Dutch. Sometimes German. My passport says I’m British. A citizen of the United Kingdom. Some Americans hear my English accent and think I’m Scottish. It’s a miracle I don’t suffer from an identity crisis!
Some facts I am clear of: I’m middle-aged. Definitely less years ahead than behind. I’m
losing hair – I know, because I find it cowering in the plughole like a damp rodent. What remains is slowly succumbing to the grey. I take all sorts of healthy supplements, but still my joints ache. My eyesight is going. I keep looking for it, but everything is too blurry. My skin has become too big for me and refuses to shrink no matter how hot I wash it. And the smile lines around my eyes no longer think it’s funny.
Some facts I am unclear of: Why does time seem to speed up when we slow down? Why do we grow wise, just as our mental faculties start to leave the building? Why do I sound like my father when I’m talking to my kids?
Some facts I am happy with: I am a proud father, a giggling grandpa, a weary master and a lucky lover. Proud, because I have helped raise three fantastic children who display all the attributes of 
being fine human beings. Giggling, because I am one of those silly ‘let’s play monster’ grandpas who love acting the fool with my beautiful granddaughters. Weary, because I run around like a demented fool on the tail of my beastly Cairn Terrier, Jake – the mutt with 666 tattooed behind his ear. Lucky, because somehow I managed to attract (and keep) the most wonderful and wise woman a man could ever hope to have. I walk in her shadow – mostly because sunlight burns.
What interests you?
Mostly everything. I have always had an inquisitive mind. Sometimes it’s gotten me in trouble. On the inside, I’m a bit of a geek. All that is missing are the bottle-bottom eyeglasses and the buck teeth. But I’m sure they’ll make an appearance before I hit 50.
The Universe interests me. I’m into all the goofy astronomical stuff, including particle physics, string theory and just about anything which explores the world around us. In my mind I’m a scientist. In my heart I’m a creationist. I believe they give me a balanced outlook on life and what makes everything tick.
I like tinkering around on my computer. I play the occasional computer game and even run a popular online gaming community. Told you I was geeky!
Where Does Your Love For Writing Come From?
I must have been nine or ten. Maybe a little younger. I got hooked on Enid Blyton’s Famous Five mystery novels. I can’t recall exactly how it came about, but I remember being in bed, under the covers with a book and a torch, night after night, avidly reading the adventures of four plucky English kids, a dog and lashings of ginger beer. People say I have a vivid imagination – so reading stories is like watching a Technicolor movie to me.
My Dad took me to see the movies Star Wars and Close Encounters at the cinema on the same day in 1977. I was 11. Impressionable. Hooked. Those two films alone, seen back-to-back by a wide-eyed, curly-haired eleven-year-old, were the catalyst that catapulted me from Enid’s safe arms to the rough-and-ready realms of science fiction.
I went on a book rampage. I loved it. Sci-Fi spoke to me in volumes. In my language. Exotic, descriptive, fascinating. I couldn’t get enough. I started collecting certain authors I liked: Larry Niven, Harry Harrison, Alan Dean Foster, Robert Heinlein, Ben Bova, Piers Anthony … amassing over 500 paperbacks in the following 5 years.
One thing I noticed right from the start was that I edited in my head as I read. I used to think ‘I wouldn’t have said it that way’ or ‘this bit would feel better here’ or ‘now why didn’t he use this word instead of that?’. Pretty soon I got the bug to write. I remember thinking ‘I can do this’ and so I gave it a go.
At age 18, I hammered out a full-length fantasy novel on an old Remington typewriter, 
plus a collection of hard-hitting sci-fi shorts. In and around family life, I penned three further science fiction novels as I trundled through my 20′s – ‘Hisk’, ‘Orb’ and ‘Uth’. My 30′s saw me put together three comedy stage plays and several spec scripts, including one for the hit TV show Doctor Who. Recently, I’ve turned to a life of crime writing and am more focused on contemporary thrillers than far-fetched fantasies.
5 Loves Vs 5 Hates
- Love my Family | Dislike people who don’t (not my family, theirs).
- Love chocolate, even the word itself | Hate quiche in any language.
- Love rock music | Hate modern-day trancy dancy synthesized stuff with no melody.
- Love vacationing | Hate coming back to work, bills and 259 answer-phone messages.
- Love my Dog when he’s cute and cuddly | Dislike my Dog when he’s possessed by evil.
What Does The Future Hold?
If I knew that I’d be psychic. And if I was psychic I’d be making a heck of a lot more money than I am selling eBooks!
Concerning my writing, for now I think I’ve found my niche. I’m comfortable writing crime thrillers and see myself continuing to do that, at least in the short term. I plan on writing standalone thrillers in and around releasing future novels in the Gabe Quinn Series, but at some point I might return to science fiction, since it’s my first love.
Concerning my home life, I am blessed to be surrounded with love. I’m happy being a dad, a grandpa and a lover, and I’m looking forward to seeing my granddaughters blossom. I think the future’s looking rosy. I am one lucky Brit!
Stuck like a bug in middle age, Keith lives happily with his long-term fiancée Lynn and Jake their crazy Cairn Terrier. In and around playing computer games and bashing out zany story ideas, he spends most of his spare time pulling hair out of the plughole.
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