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street musician and future international publishing phenomenon.
Howard Whitehouse was born in Birmingham, England on April
13 1958. He began school, as many children do, and didn’t much
like it. They made him keep going, though, and after a mere four
or five years settled in and got good marks. He enjoyed creative
writing (they didn’t call it that) and was a master of the three-to-
four page adventure story, by and for nine year olds. In fact, he
couldn’t write anything else, and even when the assignment was
to write a Christmas scene, there would at least be some villains
lurking behind Santa’s sleigh.
As punishment for being the brightest kid in his class, young
Whitehouse won a scholarship to King Edward VI School, which
had been founded in 1552, and kept the same staff all that time.
JRR Tolkien had been there as a boy. After years of repression,
Howard escaped to get a B.A. at the University of Warwick.
After graduating in 1981, he took a job working with kids in
trouble, most of it of their own making. Since Howard found
these kids – mostly teenagers- immensely entertaining, this
became his career for eighteen years. He met and married Lori,
and moved to Savannah Ga. Since that time the happy couple
have lived in Georgia, Toronto, and most recently New York’s
Hudson Valley. Lori is an ordained minister and church historian,
with a PhD from The University of Toronto. They share a 1900
era manse opposite the church, while Howard clutters up the
place with model soldiers, miniature buildings and himself.
Ursula the tabby cat supervises his efforts.
For many years Howard’s writing was purely non fiction, mostly
military history for small hobby magazines. He designed games,
and wrote two books , ‘Battle in Africa 1879-1914’ (1988) and ‘A
Widow making War’ (1995). He was asked to write for a
commercial project called ‘Space 1889’, which first gave him a
chance to make up what is sometimes known as ‘alternative
history’. This was an eye opener, since it was really historical
fiction with a bizarre sci-fi angle to it. He began to explore
fantastic worlds of lost cities, mad scientists and evil overlords,
all with excellent manners and a proper sense of Victorian
decorum.
‘The Strictest School in the World’ is Howard’s first book for
Young Persons of Discerning Taste. More will follow.