John J. Owens is from Scotland and in his late twenties. John was born profoundly deaf. Picture on left taken in 1981.
He has a love for books and comics. Aged 12, his first story was “The Mad Axeman of Halloween” which won him a prize at his secondary school. Runner Up. A few years later, John then wrote another horror story “Redwings” about a man who gets flashbacks to find out why he was sent to Hell. It got published in a teens magazine distributed to libraries across Glasgow (Scotland).
His creative writing was put on hold as he progressed through higher education. John studied Information Technology and Multimedia at Glasgow College of Building and Printing (GCBP) and Glasgow Caledonian University. He went back to GCBP for a general course on creative writing as he felt it needed improvement. It was from there his creative writing got better. Can’t say much for his handwriting, though.
John doesn’t always write horror stories as he penned a short story about a teenager sent to stay with his uncle and aunt for a short break, it was called “Chick and Irene”. He plans to write some more drama soon.
His latest contribution “Beaten Path” will be seen in FutureQuake Press’s Something Wicked (Autumn 2008).
John is fluent in Glaswegian. Listens to particular music ranging from KT Tunstall to Flogging Molly to 80s music (Queen, anyone?). John often visits second hand bookshops around Glasgow. Not that the books are cheap, he enjoys the musty smell of the shops.
John is often known as Jova. The origin of this nickname came around when his (then 2 years old) brother tried to pronounce his forenames. He said Jova. It stuck with him since then.
He is currently employed as a software programmer and web developer.
John may be deaf but he can speak and relies on lipreading.
