Christopher holds both an Honours and a Masters Degree in English Language and Literature from Toronto's York University. An avid reader and social critic, his interests run the gamut from Classical Mythology to Law and Politics. Christopher's fictional influences include Canadian writers Alistair Macleod and Alice Munro. The son of an English Teacher father, Chris grew up immersed in Greek myth and fairy tales. The power of a story to captivate and influence the mind, indeed culture, became the subject of a research paper during his Masters degree. Chris cogently presented the link between the European Oral Epic singer and the Native Canadian storytellers who fulfilled a role similar to the Anglo-Saxonic scop, or African griot. Chris's all-time favourite authors include in no particular order: Homer, Ovid, Shakespeare, Ernest Hemingway, Timothy Findlay, Alistair MacLeod, Robertson Davies, Alice Munro, Margaret Laurence, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Stephen Leacock, and Charles Dickens.