About Max Overton
Max Overton is a new author specializing in historical fiction, although he has also written extensively in other genres and in biological non-fiction. The Glass House trilogy on the mysteries of Australia, which he co-wrote with Ariana Overton, has been turned into a series of screenplays and the first of these has been optioned by a Hollywood producer. His latest novel has also been adapted and has attracted interest.
His first book, Lion of Scythia, (an EPPIE finalist in 2001) deals with conflicts between the Macedonian Empire of Alexander the Great and the tribes on the borders of his realm. A second book in this trilogy, The Golden King, won the 2005 EPPIE for Best Historical and the third and final book of this series, Funeral in Babylon, won the 2006 EPPIE in the same category. His most recent novel, A Cry of Shadows, follows the activities of serial killers in Australia and America. It is available at Mundania Press (
www.mundania.com/books-acryofshadows.html). The first in another historical series has been accepted by Mundania, and will be published in early 2008. Scarab - Akhenaten: Book 1 of the Amarnan Kings, follows the story of princess Beketaten through the tumultuous years at the end of the eighteenth dynasty in Egypt of the fourteenth century BC. Further books are planned in this series and a variety of other genres.
Born in Malaysia to English parents, Max has traveled extensively, living in England, Belgium, Germany and Jamaica before settling down in New Zealand. After graduating with a Master's degree in Plant Physiology, he worked in a number of fields including high school teaching, possum tagging, scrub cutting, tissue culture research, commercial cleaning, service station management, bumblebee exporting and university tutoring. Moving to Australia in 1990, Max took up a position tutoring at James Cook University in Townsville, Queensland. He also undertook studies in tropical butterfly communities.
Max met Ariana in Australia and, after two years exploring the outback, the tropical rainforests, and New Guinea, they married and moved to Illinois in the United States where they continued to write, side-by-side, until her unexpected death in November 2003. After a brief sojourn in Kalamazoo, Michigan, where he experienced the rigors of a northern winter, Max returned to Townsville in 2005, where he continues to write, study and tutor on the shores of the Coral Sea.
Max has recently met and fallen in love with Julie, discovering they have a tremendous amount in common. Her love and encouragement led to him finishing A Cry of Shadows and has provided the impetus for his new series on the Amarnan Kings of ancient Egypt.