Patrick Gallagher is a primary school teacher from South London with roots in Goa in India and Donegal in Ireland. He studied English and American Literature with Creative Writing in both Kent and Maynooth and is a keen artist and violinist in his spare time.


Like lots of Goans of that generation, Patrick's mother was born and raised in Uganda and the time he himself has spent there inspired the spectacular backdrop to Transcendent.


Jacob and Kira's story has been years in the making. It draws not only on Patrick's experience of dual heritage but every science-fiction and adventure story he devoured as a child, every Doctor Who episode and Spider-Man cartoon, every comic or short story he scribbled on scrap paper, every daydream on long car journeys.


To Patrick's class and every other child reading Transcendent, he would like to say this: if you love writing stories, keep going.


You never know. You might just never stop.