Mark Anthony Ayling was born and raised in St Helens, near Liverpool in the northwest of England, where he spent his formative years reading horror, fantasy, science fiction stories, and comics and listening to as much decent music as he could possibly get his hands on.

Mark

He eventually went to university to study English Literature and French and later decided to complete a diploma in nursing. Mark Anthony Ayling is happily married (most of the time) and has a 4-year-old son and 2-year-old daughter.

He spends whatever spare time he can salvage writing stories (often late at night), rearranging his record collection, going to watch live music, attending rugby league games, and watching films. Northern Futures is his first collection of short stories.