Mark Walden
- Name: Mark Walden
- Favourite author: Roald Dahl
- Favourite colour: Purple
- Favourite film: Star Wars
- Previous job: Video Games Designer
- Pets: A cat called Marge
- Latest title: H.I.V.E. The Overlord Protocol
- See all titles from Mark
So, that's another summer holiday over and that can only mean one thing... (cue ominous roll of thunder)... back to school. I know, I know... the time just flew by and it seems like you barely got started on that list of a million and one things that were planned for the holidays but don't get too downhearted. The summer may have flown by but there's actually something quite exciting about those first few days of the new school year.
There are new classmates to meet, new teachers to nickname, new subjects to get to grips with or maybe even a completely new school. All of which means that there should be plenty to keep everybody on their toes. You get to see all your friends again and hear all about what they’ve been up to for the last couple of months that you might have missed out on. You’ll also probably have to listen to someone telling you about how their summer was much more exciting than yours and how thrilling swimming with great white sharks was – trust me, there's always one. If only those sharks h been just a little bit hungrier...
If you really can't face the prospect of going back just spare a thought for Otto Malpense and the other students of H.I.V.E, they don't get any holidays at all, they're not even allowed to leave the school! As if it’s not bad enough for Otto and his friends having to deal with megalomanical would-be world conquerors, giant flesh-eating monsters, ruthless ninja assassins and super-intelligent artificial intelligences, they have to live with it all twenty four hours a day, three hundred and sixty five days a year. So console yourself with the fact that it could be worse, but only if you happen to be a genius level super-villain of the future.
But if all of this does nothing to reassure you that going back to school isn't that bad, then look at it this way... not long ’til Christmas! '.
Mark Walden spent ten years working as a video games designer and producer. He left to embark on a far more challenging career… full-time dad. He has a baby daughter and splits his time between writing and looking after her. Writing had always been a hobby for him but it was only when the idea for H.I.V.E. came to Mark that he dedicated himself to completing a full novel. Before any of this happened he was a student at Newcastle University where he studied for a BA in English Literature. More importantly, it was where he met his wife of nearly ten years, Sarah.
