The author Patrick Taylor now lives on Salt Spring Island, British Columbia. Taylor is a distinguished medical research worker, off-shore sailor, model boat-builder and seannachie.

Born in 1941, Taylor was brought up in Bangor, Northern Ireland, and receieved his medical education in Ulster. He initially practiced in a rural Ulster village akin to Ballybucklebo before taking specialist training in Obstetrics and Gynaecology. After living in Belfast through the first two years of the recent Irish Troubles (1969-1994) he and his family emigrated to Canada where he pursued a career in medical research and teaching in the field of human infertility. His contributions have been honoured with three lifetime achievement awards including the Lifetime Award of Excellence of the Canadian Fertility and Andrology Society.

A talent for the written word, first recognized when he was 16 by his winning the “Campbellian Prize for Literature”, led to an outpouring of contributions to the medical literature. His scientific works include 170 papers and six textbooks, one translated from the original French. For ten years, (1991-2001) he was editor-in-chief of the Canadian Obstetrics and Gynaecology journal.

To add leavening to dry, academic prose Taylor has always nurtured his creative side. His monthly medical humour columns which began in 1991, En Passant, Medicine Chest and Taylor’s Twist were followed by his appointment as book reviewer to Stitches: The Journal of Medical Humour.

In the mid-nineties, encouraged by his long time friend Jack Whyte, author of the best-selling Dream of Eagles series, Taylor began to write serious fiction. A number of works, all set in Northern Ireland, have now been published; A short-story collection, Only Wounded:Ulster Stories, and two novels, Pray for Us Sinners and The Apprenticeship of Doctor Laverty, (short listed for the BC Book awards fiction prize 2005). Now and in the Hour of Our Death, the sequel to Pray for Us Sinners appeared in October 2005. He is now under contract to Tom Doherty and Associates of New York to produce a series of novels featuring Featuring Doctor Laverty. The first, An Irish Country Doctor appeared in Feb 07, the second, An Irish Country Village in Feb 08. An Irish Country Christmas in October 2008, An Irish Country Girl in January 2010 and An Irish Country Courtship in September 2010.

An expert navigator, Taylor has been a member of off-shore racing crews. His race reports, including his account of a recent Victoria to Maui challenge complement his frequent contributions of sailing humour to boating magazines.

Two of his models, Rattlesnake a three-masted frigate and the schooner Bluenose are on display in the local pub on Bowen Island, a small island off Vancouver.