Hugh Cook

Hugh Walter Gilbert Cook (9 August 1956 – 8 November 2008) was a cult author, whose works blend fantasy and science fiction. He is best known for his series Chronicles of an Age of Darkness.

Biography Cook was born in Billericay in Essex, England in 1956. After spending his early childhood in England, in 1962 he moved to Ocean Island (now known as Banaba) in Kiribati. His experiences of English castles and of life on an equatorial island influenced his writing. In 1964, he moved to New Zealand, where he was educated. He later joined the New Zealand Army as a medic, where he served for ten years, reaching the rank of sergeant.

Between 1986 and 1992, Cook wrote the ten-novel series Chronicles of an Age of Darkness. Disappointing sales prevented the publication of further volumes (up to 60 were planned) and Cook stopped publishing for some time.

In 1997, he moved to Japan, and lived in Yokohama with his wife and daughter, where he taught English. Between 1998 and 2005, he published mainly through his website, Zen Virus. His online works encompassed poetry, short stories, flash fiction, and several novels, including To Find and Wake the Dreamer and Oceans of Light, a trilogy.

In 2005, he underwent chemotherapy and radiation treatment for non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. He wrote a medical memoir, Cancer Patient, recounting that experience. Following a relapse, he died on 8 November 2008, in a hospice in Auckland.