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James Martin was born on a cold Christmas Eve afternoon. James always toyed with the idea of being a writer, but always dismissed it as a job for the masters of English literature, and being an author was a club too great for him to join.

 

As a youngster, James wrote a sci-fi novel (which looking back, it was a fan fiction piece for Star Trek) and a thriller novel about a low-grade analyst in a super-secret anti-terrorist organisation being set up for a crime he did not commit. Both of these are unpublished and James has vowed to keep them that way.

 

James originally came up with the idea of Knightstar around 2004 and wrote the story purely as a hobby with no intention of publishing. James then decided to shelve not only the idea of Knightstar, but the notion of writing.

 

James later graduated from university, travelled the United States (a country much loved by him), and trained to become a teacher in the years that followed. However, it was not until he later worked in a bookshop where the desire to write was re-lit. “Being surrounded by books and organising author events reminded me of my love of writing,” said James. “I found my old manuscript of Knightstar and I basically ripped it apart, stripped it back to basics, and completely rewrote it into something that resembles what it is today.”  

 

James submitted his manuscript to various literary agents but received the standard rejections. He then found out about self-publishing. “I researched hard and found out as much as I could about self-publishing.”

 

In February 2017, Knightstar was launched as a self-published title on Amazon Kindle. “Knightstar was plodding along nicely, but I went on a business course in 2019, and it caused me to re-think my entire approach,” said James. James then went on to create his own publishing business, specifically to publish Knightstar. He then took Knightstar again, and had it re-edited, tweaked, and improved before having it re-published for the winter of 2021.