Ben Dixon is a father of four children, former teacher of French and the author behind both the hilarious world of Neil Peel and the fantasy adventures of the Heroic Quests series.
He grew up in Yorkshire, grew up a bit more in Leicestershire before moving to settle in Surrey. He lives in Guildford.
About the author
Influences
His other hobbies include running (slowly), playing guitar (like a rock God!), reading books of all sorts (favourite authors are Guillaume Musso, Gregg Hurwitz, Robert Harris, Harlan Coben, George R. R. Martin, John Hart, Carlos Ruiz Zafón and Stephen King (Stephen Prince?)) and finding out as much as possible about as many films as possible (keen cinema lovers will spot references galore in the books).
The Fantasy Adventures
From the earliest days playing Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone's choose-your-own-adventure books that started with The Warlock of Firetop Mountain through Redwall, Stephen King's Eyes of the Dragon and on to George RR Martin's Song of Ice and Fire, Ben has always loved the fantasy genre. Since Neil Peel and his friends play a DnD adventure through each of those books, it was a natural step to move into fantasy writing.
The Funny Books
He was inspired to write humorous books for Young Adults because nobody else seemed to be doing it! Sue Townsend’s The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole was and has remained popular, so why isn’t anybody writing in the same genre? It doesn’t make sense when most young people love comedy films that there are so few funny books for them.
Background
How did it start?
Media
Author interview - Not for Vanity
You can read an interview with the author about his inspiration and writing process conducted by the website Not For Vanity here.
TV interview - Creatives on the Couch
You can also watch his TV interview for Creatives on the Couch that aired on Sky TV in February 2023 here.
YouTube interview
Ben Dixon is back to talk about his new novel Vengeance and Honour, a sword and sorcery adventure for older teens and up. Fans of Dungeons and Dragons, fantasy RPGs, and Choose Your Own Adventure stories will LOVE this book, as it’s full of action, adventure, friendship, and just enough immature jokes involving PG-rated nudity to make teens (and grownups) laugh. Watch the interview here.
Reluctant Reader Books
The Heroic Truths of Neil Peel is featured on the US website reluctantreaderbooks.com in their article “5 books to get kids reading (that you never heard of)”.
Click the link to read about how “Ben Dixon’s Neil Peel adventures update a rich, longstanding British storytelling tradition: the comic coming-of-age novel.”
My Moto
"My writing is all about entertainment. My characters are relatable and so are the choices they face. I want you to laugh, to hope, to hate, to fear and to enjoy."