docfiles.Graham_Downs Maven / Gradle / Ivy

Go to download
Graham Downs is a South African writer. He was born in Alberton, Gauteng, South Africa in 1980. He is a full time software developer who also writes and publishes fiction.[1]Downs currently lives with his wife in Germiston, from where he commutes to his computer programming job in Rivonia. He has published three stories: A Petition to Magic, Heritage of Deceit, and Stingers.[2]Downs grew up in Alberton, Gauteng, South Africa in the 1980s and 1990s. In the year he turned six, he was enrolled in Alberton Primary School, where his mother was a Grade One teacher, and he ended up in her class. She instilled in him a love of reading and writing from a very early age, and by the end of his Grade One year, his reading level was a year above other children his age. Throughout Primary School, he participated in various reading competitions, and he graduated to public speaking and debating in High School.[3]Immediately after leaving school, Downs got a job as a computer programmer. Throughout his adult life, however, he maintained his passion for reading and writing. After a long time of feeling too self-conscious to attempt it, he self-published his first short story, A Petition to Magic.[3]Downs' first work, A Petition to Magic was published in 2012, when he was 32 years old.[4] It was first published as an epub formatted ebook on 23 December 2012, through the self-publishing site Smashwords,[5] and it was later released (31 March 2014) as a paperback using the print-on-demand service Lulu, and distributed to major book retailers worldwide.[6]It is a short story, which centres around a wizard with a guilty secret, along with a young Queen and the way she is dealing with her new status. Tina Stanciu from Readers' Favorite described the book as reading more like a lesson than a short story, and it garnered a five-star review on that website.[4]The story also garnered an 8.3 rating on the Reading is My Drug blog, where Samuel Alexander described it as "...a light, entertaining somewhat enjoyable read."[7]Stingers was Downs' third story, but was published second, in December 2013.[4] It was included in the short story anthology, I am not Frazzle! And other stories for grown-ups.[8]Stingers is about a boy called James Clarke, who suffers from bullying in school.[2] On 16 June 2014, it was simultaneously released as an epub formatted ebook[9] on Smashwords, and paperback[10] and hardcover[11] on Lulu.While I am not Frazzle! was being prepared for release, Downs released his second story, Heritage of Deceit, on 1 December 2013.[4] The first release of the book was as an epub formatted book on Smashwords.[12] It was subsequently released as a paperback on Lulu on 23 January 2014,[13] and as a hardcover on 28 March 2014.[14]Heritage of Deceit is about a man working in an office, who thinks he has found evidence of a genocide that happened some time before.[15]The MaineMuse reviewer described Heritage of Deceit as a "...delightful short read", wishing only that it could have been longer, so that she could have enjoyed it more.[16]Downs is active on the book reviewing site Goodreads, where he posts regular reviews.[2]