Steve Smith

Hi I am Steve Smith. I was born in Liverpool England but have for the last 20 years lived in Normandy France where I run a holiday letting business with my wife Michelle. I had no writing experience whatsoever but last year having found, and helped, an orphaned hedgehog in our garden I wrote a short story about 'Spike' for a friend's grandchildren. This was well received so additional stories followed and the book was published in May 2023. I had intended to contact an artist friend of mine to ask her to redraw the characters from my rough sketches but was told, by those who had read the draft copies, not to do so as my childlike drawings added to the fun. So the result was 'Made by Hand' books, which are children's books, illustrated by hand. I hope that you will enjoy the books despite (or hopefully because of) the naive artwork. Spike the Hedgehog. His friends and their adventures, is a collection of 6 short stories. A further Spike book in the pipeline for sometime in 2023 Buzz-Bee and his allergy introduces Buzz, a honey bee who is allergic to pollen. In reality his disability proves to be a blessing in disguise for his Hive. Once again a second story featuring this character will be produced in 2023. In a totally unrelated subject, my personal passion is the golden age of cricket. I have produced a biography of John Barton King, the American swing bowler, who captivated the cricketing world in the latter part of the nineteenth and early parts of the twentieth century, playing for the 'Gentlemen of Philadelphia' cricket team.