Michael John Grist is a science-fiction & fantasy author, and ruins photographer who lives in Tokyo, Japan.
You can see his recent posts here.
MJG‘s short stories have been published in two major pro magazines- Clarkesworld and Beneath Ceaseless Skies, as well as in numerous smaller publications. He typically writes heroic science fiction and epic fantasy with a dark, surreal humor.
He is currently submitting a fantasy novel to agents, SAINT IGNIFER’S RISE, set in a bizarre industrial city, about a boy condemned to death for the fate written in his scars.
MJG also explores and photographs the modern ruined buildings of Japan, known as haikyo (AKA urbex), driven by a childhood spent re-enacting the adventures of Indiana Jones and the Goonies in the fields behind his house.
Now that he’s grown up, this kind of ‘exploring’ may seem a bit of a silly thing to do (as one friend pointed out- ‘they’re just dirty old buildings’), but the appeal of photography, travel, and yes, still adventure, keep him coming back for more.
Some of the 70 or so locations he’s visited include abandoned theme parks, military installations, ruins of the sex industry, and ghost towns. The best though are theme parks, in particular Nara Dreamland, and Sports World- both available to click in links at the right.
Michael was born in Manchester, England, to an American mother and British father. He was raised in Bolton, where as a kid he wrote snippets of fantasy after his literary heroes and explored the wonders of the horse’s field behind his house. Nothing much has changed since then, except the snippets became full stories and the horse’s field got a whole lot bigger.
In his childhood summers he visited his farm-owning family in Kentucky, where he learnt the worth of Dairy Queen ice cream and TexMex cuisine. In his teens he worked at a summer camp for disadvantaged kids in Massachusetts, and after graduating high school in the UK he went (glutton for punishment, yes) to high school again, in Indiana, on an exchange program for two semesters. It was there that he first took creative writing classes, buoyed on by the appreciation of his accent, and started work on his first novel (which is now maturing on his hard drive like a fine wine). He also took a Greyhound trip around the country (six days and nights on a bus), which reinforced his thirst for exploration.
Now he enjoys the odd game of squash and badminton, working out in the gym, going to ruins, and of course working on his stories and novels. He lives in a central Tokyo apartment with his wife and their pet King Frog, and works as an English lecturer at university.
You can contact Michael about use of photos, potential advertising offers, and most anything else by emailing michaeljohngrist @ hotmail.com (after removing the spaces)
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