About Me
I was born on September 18 in Waterbury, Connecticut. My first experience with literature was when my mother would read aloud from a lavishly-illustrated edition of the 1001 Tales of the Arabian Nights. It was the beginning of my fascination with history, mythology, and adventure, and I became a voracious reader which quickly led to the doorsteps of writing my own tales. From crayons to my first typewriter (a blue metallic Brother 11), I eventually moved on to an electronic typewriter and then to the computer I swear by. I often wonder what the next step will be…
I never decided to be a writer. It decided me.
I earned my undergraduate degrees in English and Philosophy, but the diploma wasn’t nearly as valuable as the circle of devoted, lifelong friends I met, including actor Gary Ploski and screenwriting partner Marty Lang. I went on to earn a Master’s in English and History, and have experienced what I call the Mark Twain gauntlet of employment (see below.) The internal engine of all writers feeds off of experience.
My writings have appeared in more than a hundred publications. I write literary, historical, and speculative works in addition to journalistic think-pieces on culture, society, politics, and technology. Work of mine has appeared in The Copperfield Review, Boston Literary Magazine, The Humanist, Clarkesworld, Strange Horizons, Apex, Blazing! Adventures, Illumen, Astonishing Adventures, Elements of Literature, The Eclectic Muse, Bewildering Stories, among others, and I’ve received awards from Glimmer Train and was a consecutive two-time honoree in the L. Ron Hubbard’s Writers of the Future Contest. My analysis of civil liberties was used as required reading for the 2005-06 National Debate on Civil Liberties sponsored by H. W. Wilson. More on that in the Works section. My immediate goal is creative success in publishing and film-making.
Ah yes, lists. We live in a world of lists. Grocery lists, Wish Lists, Top 10s, Shopping Carts, and Myspace/Facebook/Twitter miniature biographies. What introduction would be complete without one?
17 Aspects of My Life:
1. I was an illustrator’s model for an outdoorsman survival guide in the late ‘90s.
2. I was born the same day that George Washington laid the cornerstone for the U.S. Capitol (September 18)
3. My employment history is cut in the same mold as Mark Twain. I have been a restaurant manager, hospital clerk, journalist, editor, cell phone technical support, bookseller, martial arts instructor, English teacher, film production assistant, painter, landscaper, library assistant, ESL tutor, and proposal writer. I figure steamboat pilot is inevitable.
4. I seem to be one of the few people who love broccoli rabe. If you do as well, we should start a club or something.
5. My favorite author of childhood was Ray Bradbury; years later, I was honored to have a story published in a literature anthology right alongside one of his.
6. I am a mead and sake drinker.
7. I was the keynote speaker for The Yale Bookstore’s Author Series during National Banned Books Week.
8. I believe in being a dreamer and a scientific rationalist.
9. My favorite film is Raiders of the Lost Ark.
10. I have a fierce love for the ancients, particularly Greece, Rome, Egypt, Mesopotamia, and China.
11. I resent the very idea of fate or destiny. Life is choice and chance, and what you’re willing to fight for.
12. I walk in the rain.
13. I look forward to the creative renaissance of tomorrow.
14. I’m an Aristotelian humanist non-partisan freethinking aggressive rationalist bibliophile. Doesn’t fit very well on voter registration sheets.
15. When I was six, I used to pretend that streets were watery canals and cars were the hovercrafts people used to get around. This is one of the reasons I like driving in the rain today.
16. I like castles, ruins, and thunderstorms. Especially together.
17. I believe in human potential, even if individual humans (and factions, groups, and industries) bring out my inner dragon.
A stone's throw from the crest of Mount Fuji
