John Drake trained as a biochemist--before realizing he wasn't much good at science--and worked an anchorman for PharmaVision, a live-TV broadcast service produced by ICI Pharmaceuticals, before leaving to write full-time in 1999. His hobbies and interests include muzzle-loaded shooting, history, and politics. Flint & Silver was inspired by the many unanswered questions left by Robert Louis Stevenson's much-loved classic, Treasure Island.