Peter Morwood is a
British Sci Fi/Fantasy writer and the husband of fellow writer
Diane Duane. He has mostly written for established series and worlds, and does not have much of a reputation in his own right. Nevertheless, being a friendly and
voluble character, and being conveniently married to a successful author in the same genre, he is a popular guest
panelist at fan conventions and other suchlike events.
I have never read any of his books, not being a particular fan of his genre, but was unfortunate enough to come across him in a more intimate setting. He was once, through a conjunction of circumstances which is still quite beyond me, invited together with Diane to stay at my then-boyfriend's place together with several other people.
If you're a fan of the guy, look away now. It was every host's nightmare. The man monopolised the conversation to the point of absurdity with dull, obviously pro forma stories about subjects which interested absolutely nobody in the room. Not only did the lack of reciprocity in the conversation fail to deter him, it actually suited him extremely well as the embarassed, bored silence gave him that much more space to fill up with the sound of his own voice.
It was, and I have witnesses, 4am when, losing all patience and bereft of politeness I asked him to please go to bed now. Even after having explained that people need the living room to sleep in and that we're all tired, it took me an extra 20 minutes to finally get him and his wife to leave the room.
I don't know what it is with them - they live in the country, so perhaps they're starved for company. But I have never before or since seen anyone be so rude through such a complete blindness to the moods and reactions of those around them. Moral: don't invite people you don't know to stay at your house, no matter how famous they are.
To fill this writeup with something other than bitching, Peter and Diane have their own website which contains their bios and bibliographies and can be found at http://www.ibmpcug.co.uk/~owls/homeward.html.