About James Cullinane

I’ve seen wonder through three

I was born in 1984, and like most people, I learned early that life doesn’t move in straight lines.

My dad moved out when I was young, and from that point on I became quietly fascinated by how people — and things — hold themselves together after something breaks. Maybe that’s where all this started: the need to understand what lies underneath the surface of things.

That curiosity has followed me everywhere.
I’ve spent years exploring systems — human, digital, emotional — and how they connect. Professionally, I work as a programmer, building structures of logic and meaning out of code. But that same impulse shows up in everything I do — in my art, my writing, my music, and my search for understanding.

I paint. I draw. I play guitar and harmonica. I build worlds on screens and in stories. I’ve been an avid gamer since the days of pixelated adventures — and I still find something deeply human in the act of creation and play.

Once, I even turned that discipline outward — earning the title of Wing Chun British Champion. Precision, focus, stillness under pressure — martial arts taught me as much about consciousness as philosophy ever could.

At one point, I took a Mensa test — 146 IQ, top 3%. Numbers don’t mean much, but it confirmed what I already suspected: I was destined to think too much about everything.

And so, I write.

My book What? began as an attempt to answer the unanswerable: What am I?
It explores consciousness, morality, existence, the illusion of self — and why we keep asking these questions even when we know they’ll never resolve neatly.

The same themes spill into the rest of my work:

The ancient roots of festivals and traditions like Halloween or Christmas.

The origins of monsters, myths, and the fears that shaped them.

The delicate, often comic struggle between reason and mystery that defines being human.

I’m also a father of three children, which means I’ve seen wonder through three fresh sets of eyes — and been reminded that curiosity is the closest thing we have to magic.

This site isn’t a diary or a portfolio. It’s more like a map in fog — fragments of thought, exploration, and meaning. A place for questions that don’t sit quietly once asked.

You won’t find simple answers here. But you might find something that makes you stop, think, and ask your own what?

Welcome.

You’ve found your way here — though maybe you don’t yet know why.