Galactic Yeti fantasy novel author

Hello, my name is Stafford Vance. I am 54 years old and live in Crawley, West Sussex, with my dog for company and far too many stories in my head.

I am relatively new to writing in the sense that I published my first book just three years ago, but storytelling has been with me for most of my life. I grew up moving from place to place, which made putting down roots and making lasting friendships difficult. As a result, I developed a very strong imagination, learning early on how to entertain myself for hours at a time. That habit never really left me. Even now, I often find my mind wandering, imagining strange worlds, unlikely characters, and moments that feel as though they are asking to be written down.

For over two decades I worked in aviation, supporting aircraft belonging to heads of state, royal families, and private individuals across the world. The job took me to places most people only ever see in photographs. Some of those experiences were extraordinary, others challenging, and a few genuinely harrowing, but all of them gave me a broad view of the world and the people in it. I spent many nights writing while travelling, jotting down ideas in hotel rooms and airport lounges, slowly realising that these fragments were becoming something more.

Eventually, I reached the point where I knew that if I did not commit to writing properly, I never would. So I did. I took the leap, sat down, and began to turn those long-held ideas into full stories.

Today, I write fantasy, often blending it with darker themes and unusual settings. I am particularly drawn to stories about resilience, flawed heroes, and worlds that feel both strange and familiar. Writing has become not just a creative outlet, but a way of making sense of a lifetime of experiences, and I feel I am only just getting started.