User:Grover Snodd

I'm not a genius (or are I?), but I have plenty of flaws. I'm a beginning novelist with a background that comprises a curious mixture of engineering, transportation planning and science writing. I used to work as a technical writer (and have only now realised that this paragraph used to say I "currently work as a technical writer in the past"...). The need to get a publishable novel out of my writing limits my activity on Wikipedia, as do increasingly severe bouts of depression. Most of my contributions so far have been on matters of transport history, including some pretty obscure ones. Although I've written on some Irish subjects, I refuse to get involved in the associated nomenclatural disputes.

Lately, I've concentrated primarily on airship matters (this doesn't mean I write steampunk fiction, though I do happen to think Against the Day is the second best thing Pynchon ever wrote). Apart from writing, I'm an enthusiastic reader; aside from Pynchon, Flann O'Brien, Don DeLillo, Joseph Conrad, Philip K. Dick, Raymond Chandler and Mervyn Peake (another curious mixture) are particular favourites, though I never seem to do any literary stuff on Wikipedia. The only writer (and anthologist) I have the pleasure of knowing personally is Jonathan Oliver.

The boxes offer further clues to my preferences—some of them very obscure.

Contributions

 * CIÉ No. CC1; created.
 * CIÉ 2600 Class; created.
 * Herbert Carmichael Irwin; created.
 * George Herbert Scott; created.
 * Irish railway accidents; significantly expanded (9 accidents to 40) and revamped.
 * Airship Industries; significantly expanded.
 * AEREON III; significantly expanded.
 * AEREON 26; significantly expanded.