email@laurenceking.info

I’m a writer, editor, programmer and designer based on the Herts/Essex borders just north of London, England. Online I work under the personas James Anders Banks and Aiden Smith, to keep my work projfects separate from my personal life, and from each other.

This website is organised around my interests and skills, so some links appear in more than one section. An alphabetical website list can be found at the bottom of this page.

Writer and Editor

as James Anders Banks

I write fiction, and edit and mentor other authors, as James Anders Banks.

  • jamesandersbanks.com

    Promotional website for Space and Time, the darkly comic science fiction trilogy I wrote while living in rural Spain during a blisteringly hot lockdown.

  • wikipedia.org/wiki/Daren_King

    Wikipedia page of my 1990s and 2000s adult literary and children’s fiction, published under the name Daren King.

  • academy.jamesandersbanks.com

    Anders Banks Academy, my editing and mentoring business, established 2008.

  • reedsy.com/james-anders-banks

    My profile on Reedsy, the marketplace for publishing professionals, where I get most of my editing work. If you want to enquire about hiring me and did not find me through Reedsy, contact me direct.

Programmer

as Aiden Smith

As Aiden Smith, I write business software, and games for modern platforms like the Pico-8 and for classic 8-bit machines like the Vic-20 and ZX Spectrum. I have programmed in BASIC, Pascal, C++, C#, Java, JavaScript/jQuery, PHP and HTML/CSS, and I currently program in C, Lua, AHK/AHK2, and Z80 and 6502 assembly language.

  • s800.computer

    The EBM System/800 is a distraction-free text editor and spreadsheet, built into a virtual 1979 business computer. Genuine monochrome 8-bit font. Adjustable scanlines mimicking a CRT monitor. Spreadsheet inspired by VisiCalc, the first spreadsheet for personal computers. Keyboard only. I wrote it in C with SDL2, and it runs on Windows PCs.

  • aidensmith.io

    My retro programming website, home of my business software and my games, for modern platforms like the Pico-8 and for classic 8-bit machines like the Vic-20 and ZX Spectrum.

  • aidensmithio.itch.io

    Where you can download my software, including the EBM System/800, and play my games, including Super Mario Plays Pac-Man for the Pico-8.

Designer

I designed the new covers for my James Anders Banks science fiction books, and the cover of my novel Jim Giraffe. I designed the artwork for Smally the Mouse, published by Bloomsbury. The EBM System/800 was a design project in itself. I drew the pixel art graphics for my game Super Mario Plays Pac-Man. I sometimes use the name Clowns in a Car for my design work, as a fun suggestion that the design work was created by a design agency.

  • jamesandersbanks.com

    I designed the covers for my science fiction trilogy Space and Time (the newer black covers with the wireframe spaceships), published as James Anders Banks. I bought the rights to the spaceship images from 3D graphics artist Swillklitch.

  • wikipedia.org/wiki/Daren_King

    As Daren King, I wrote Jim Giraffe, published by Jonathan Cape in 2004, and designed its cover.

  • s800.computer

    I designed every aspect of the EBM System/800 myself, including its manuals, and the 8-bit font, though I borrowed heavily from the font on the Commodore 8-bit machines.

  • aidensmith.ioaidensmithio.itch.io

    Super Mario Plays Pac-Man is a demake: a fan game that reworks a famous game in a retro style. In addition to programming the game, I designed the pixel art graphics, directly taking inspiration from Nintendo’s classic characters. Companies such as Nintendo (Mario) and Namco (Pac-Man) routinely turn a blind eye to low-resolution fan games that pose no commercial threat.

  • I designed the logos for Anders Banks Academy, the EBM System/800, and my print and ebook publishing house Admission Books. I also designed my business cards.

    Anders Banks Academy logo EBM System/800 logo Admission Books logo

All of my websites, in alphabetical order