Montgomery, Hugh (Edward) 1962-

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MONTGOMERY, Hugh (Edward) 1962-

PERSONAL:

Born October 20, 1962, in Plymouth, England; son of Nelson (a doctor) and Bridget (a nurse) Montgomery; married; wife's name, Mary; children: Oscar Nelson. Education: University College London, B.Sc. (circulatory/respiratory physiology and neuropharmacology; first class honors), 1984; University of London, Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery, 1987, M.D., 1997. Hobbies and other interests: Skydiving, scuba diving, mountaineering.

ADDRESSES:

Agent—Caroline Sheldon, Thorley Manor Farm, Thorley, Yarmouth P04 1055, England. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER:

Doctor; consultant in intensive care. Division of Cardiovascular Genetics, Department of Medicine, British Heart Foundation, University College London, senior lecturer. Practiced medicine in Africa for a year.

MEMBER:

Royal College of Physicians; London Hypertension Society, British Hypertension Research Group, Intensive Care Society, European Society of Intensive Care Medicine, British Society for Cardiovascular Research, International Society for Heart Research (European Section), British Society of Echocardiography, European Society for Clinical Investigation, Royal Geographic Society (fellow).

AWARDS, HONORS:

Young Investigators Award, British Cardiac Society, 1996; Martii Karvonen Young Investigator Award, Pujko Symposium (Finland), 1998; Medal for Basic Science, European Society of Cardiology, 2001; Award for Excellence in Clinical Investigation, European Society for Clinical Investigation, 2002; Gillian Hanson Award, Intensive Care Society, 2002; self-published poetry book of the year and self-published book of the year awards, Independent Publishing Awards, 2002, for The Voyage of the Arctic Tern.

WRITINGS:

The Voyage of the Arctic Tern, illustrated by Nick Poullis, Synapse GB (Hants, England), 2000, Walker Books (London, England), Candlewick Press (Cambridge, MA), 2002.

(Editor, with D. Holdright) 100 Questions in Cardiology, BMJ Publishing (London, England), 2001.

My First MRCP Book, ReMedica (London, England), 2002.

Contributor to radio and television programs and to over 200 print publications, including Scientific American, New Scientist, Science, Newsweek, Focus, Men's Health, and Hola.

WORK IN PROGRESS:

Morchilla and Ptarmagon, for Walker Books (London, England) and Candlewick Press (Cambridge, MA); Cloudsailors, for Candlewick Press (Cambridge, MA); Consciousness, a television drama; and Reputation, an adult film thriller.

SIDELIGHTS:

British writer Hugh Montgomery's first book, The Voyage of the Arctic Tern, is a sea yarn, "an epic poem that delivers a spine-tingling tale of treachery and redemption, pirates and ghost ships," a reviewer wrote in Publishers Weekly. Bruno is the captain of a fishing boat, the Arctic Tern. Long ago, he committed a horrendous crime against his country, and as a result, he has been cursed. To lift the curse, he must save a life, rescue someone who has been betrayed, and give treasure back to the people, a process that ends up taking hundreds of years. He rescues the King of Spain from being poisoned by an aide when Queen Elizabeth sends Bruno to Spain with a message, taking care of two components of the curse. He has found the treasure that he wants to return, too. When the aide's plot is foiled, he steals a chest of gold and sails away with it. However, the ship sinks, taking the aide and the gold down with it. The Arctic Tern sails for centuries, trying to find this gold, until the age of scuba gear allows Bruno and his crew to bring the treasure up from the sea floor and give it to the poor.

The fact that The Voyage of the Arctic Tern is composed entirely in rhyming verse sets it apart from most adventure novels for middle graders. Writing in verse "is a rollicking, rolling, driving form of storytelling," claimed School Librarian contributor Chris Brown, making the book "attractively different and … well worth seeking out."

Montgomery told CA: "I was raised in Plymouth, Devon, in England, from whence the Pilgrim fathers set sail. Being raised by the sea was a powerful influence, and I spent a great deal of my youth either on or under it. By fifteen, I was a diver working on the salvage of King Henry VIII's flagship 'The Mary Rose,' and I went on to salvage other wrecks around the world. Perhaps the oldest was that of an Etruscan vessel, which sank off Italy in 621 B.C.

"I inherited some nautical genes—my grandfather was a ship's captain. My other grandfather had also written a novel. My father was a children's doctor, and my mother a children's nurse, so I suppose that I was always destined to write fiction for families, and with this upbringing and inheritance, the first book was always likely to be about the sea.

"I qualified as a doctor in 1987, and found myself alone in Edinburgh doing research in 1993. Having failed to buy my godchildren a present, I set out to write them a short story. To my amusement, it started writing itself in verse … and two years later I finished it! Not surprisingly, twenty-eight publishers rejected the book, but I persisted; I knew that what I had written was worthy. I self-published in 2002 to prove that the book would sell … and was right. Two thousand hardback copies went in two months. Candlewick (Walker in the UK) bought the rights … and the rest is history!

"I continue to work in medicine, as a specialist in intensive care. I also run a research group (finding the first 'gene for human fitness'). However, my writing career has moved on: I am working on four films (having sold the options to two), and have finished two more books. The next book is Morchilla and Ptarmagon, a myth (and love story) set high in the mountains.

"I hate to hear of books being compartmentalized. If it is a good read, then who cares what age group reads it? I suspect, therefore, that my books are as much read by adults as children. This is certainly true for The Voyage of the Arctic Tern. I thus like to think of my books as 'family books,' not just 'books for children.'

"As to the future? Well, that depends on sales. Ultimately, I see myself as a writer."