O BE

John Stevenson Cairns lives in the Lowlands of Scotland in beautiful Ayrshire, the home of the bard, Rabbie Burns. He completed his secondary education at Greenwood Academy in Dreghorn following primary education at Montgomery PS, which is named after the Christian poet and songwriter, James Montgomery. He was inspired to write following the success of his English teacher, William McIlvanney, the Scottish novelist and short story writer and poet. He served as a police constable in Scotland for 30 years. On his retirement he started writing the Rory MacSween book series under the pen name J A Kay to counter the effects of PTSD, caused by being run down while on duty in 1994. His first story was entitled The Mythical Highland Haggis, was included in book one of the Rory MacSween series titled, The Secrets of Urquhart Castle. It was followed by book two, The Rescue, with the concluding third book, Circle's End, published on the 24th November 2022. Science fiction has been a major part of the author's life since childhood when he began reading DC comics followed by the stories of Dan Dare from the comics of the Eagle and 200AD. He progressed to the novels of Isaac Asimov who's books inspired DADI the android in this story. With regards to the author's personal life, he is an active real ale tester with CAMRA (The Campaign for Real Ale) and when not in the pub engaged in this vital task, he enjoys spending time with his family. John was trained in the martial art of judo as a teenager and was part of the Scottish judo squad at that time which stood him in good stead during his long career in the police service. He has been married for 44 years with two adult children and three grandchildren - two girls and a wild boy.