Mike Grist is an author, adventurer and self-publishing coach who writes the bestselling Christopher Wren thriller series, about a black-ops CIA agent battling evils ripped from tomorrow's headlines.

Mike was born in the UK to a British father and American mother, and spent his childhood winging between the family farm in Kentucky and a terraced house in Manchester. At 18 he finished his last year of high school in Indiana, hitchhiked the US coast-to-coast then worked at a summer camp in Massachusetts.

Fascinated by the extremes of human behavior, Mike got his undergraduate degree in Psychology then followed up with a Masters in motivation theory. After backpacking through India, he taught English in Tokyo, Japan for 11 years, also documenting the dark side of the country's gangs, cults and abandoned places. His photography and articles about urban exploration (called 'haikyo' in Japan) have been featured in the Guardian and the Daily Mail.

Mike is a tournament-winning karate black belt, with training in jiu-jitsu, capoeria and handling arms. He also writes science fiction and fantasy as Michael John Grist. In his free time he enjoys working out, eating out, playing Ultimate Frisbee, watching old Star Trek shows and spending time with his wife and two cats.