L. John Farrelly was born and raised in Newry, Northern Ireland. He became a cartoonist and illustrator before writing The Legend of Navin Holt: Zombie Hunter, his first published novel. The story was inspired by a nightmare he had in April 1998, whilst on a visit to Connecticut. He dreamt he was apprentice to a professional zombie hunter during the American Civil War. No, seriously. The story went untold until 2008, when Farrelly decided to turn it into a comic, but due to the labour intensive nature of such a venture, he chose instead to write it as a novel and started the project in November 2010. He finished the first half of the book in June 2011 and hopes to complete the second part by early 2012.