Authors A to Z - Calum Waddell

Born and raised in Fife, Scotland, Calum Waddell made the silly mistake of believing his schoolteachers who told him that further education actually counts for something in the post-Thatcherism/ New Labour UK. As such he wasted five years in further education, gaining a BA (Hons) degree in English and a Masters in Broadcast and Film Studies - qualifications that he begrudgingly describes as "useless pieces of paper".

When neither "award" got him anywhere except the unemployment line at his local Job Center, he turned to freelance journalism and, after a long hard slog, has managed to contribute towards a number of the world's leading entertainment magazines including 360 Gamer, Bizarre, The Dark Side, Dreamwatch, DVD Review, DVD World, Fangoria, Filmfax, Geek, Rue Morgue, SFX, Shivers, Shock Cinema, Total Film and Videoscope. In addition, Waddell currently edits the Asian Film Reviews section for NEO magazine and has a monthly "Asian Extreme" section in Impact - Britain's "action entertainment" publication. Waddell's film credits include 2003's The Collingswood Story (as Associate Producer) and 2007's Brotherhood of Blood (also as Associate Producer). In addition, the author has written the film notes for the UK DVDs of Aragami, Dumplings, Intruder, Strange Behavior and Three Extremes, appears as an interviewer on the British DVD release of 2001 Maniacs and contributes a commentary track to the US and UK DVDs of Tobe Hooper's The Toolbox Murders. Waddell has also helped to program such film festivals as the 'Fearless Tales' event in San Francisco and Manchester's annual 'Festival of Fantastic Films'.

Prior to writing Taboo Breakers Waddell wrote Minds of Fear (Midnight Marquee, 2005) which was given a personal recommendation by Tony Timpone - the editor of Fangoria - in issue 249 of the magazine. It also achieved two award nominations: Independent Publisher Book Awards: Arts Category (2006) and Rondo Awards (2006).

Outside of writing, Waddell's interests include politics, classic Disney movies, indie music and traveling. He remains in love with Los Angeles.