Select Formative Experiences
I was born in The Elm City, New Haven Connecticut.
My father taught at Yale, my mother worked there on the oldest scientific journal in America.
I grew up haunting the halls of the university and sneaking into the Peabody Museum to look at dinosaur bones.
If I close my eyes I can still see the skeleton of Deinonychus leaping from above, terrible claws ready to eviscerate me…
Bedtime Stories and Monsters
At the tender age of eight, I was introduced to the fantasy genre when my father started a bedtime routine that carried us through The Lord of the Rings, The Chronicles of Narnia, and The Earthsea Cycle.
Those readings gave me a lifetime of nightmares. (And deep wells of inspiration.)
A Wizard of Earthsea in particular has haunted me into my adult life. I can think of few monsters more horrifying than the Gebbeth.
Growing up I was fascinated by WWII, Godzilla, Medieval LEGOs, and fantasy computer games (Baldur’s Gate was my favorite, for those who are interested).
I also Dungeon Mastered a lot of D&D – yes, I still play when opportunity knocks.
“When he dreamed of the shadow or so much as thought of it, he felt always that same cold dread…”
A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin
A CREATIVE TIMELINE of Sorts
I have written on and off for most of my life.
Whether it was drawing comics, filling composition notebooks with dramatic scenes, Thurberesque short works in high school, or dabbling in mythological composition my first year of college – I have consistently turned to the written word.
Over the last 20 years I have set to crafting various longer works. There have been many failed attempts. But in 2010 I wrote my first novel – from beginning to end – out by hand (not something I recommend).
It was terrible in the ways that first books often are. So I set it aside, picked up a working understanding of a couple ancient languages and a Masters, kept at my craft, and got married.
In 2017 I started a career as a content marketer while working evenings (and every spare moment) on a new epic fantasy project, sifting the ashes from my 2010 venture for seeds.
Today, I have a novel for which I am seeking publication and two young sons to tell stories to as they grow.
"Preparing to Create" Arrange my instruments close to hand, tune the gossamer silken strands, stir the deep water, that abyssal pool, now for time's art to enter in: Naked, the elements seeking forms, clouds of luminosity brightly-charged. Yet can I catch that lightning quick? Once and twice and then again? To weave those thoughts in styled sounds, to twine together awe, sorrow, and the ground? Will my perception allow to catch, that which only askance I can glimpse, that infinite perfect, blinding self, and let light pour forth from my mouth?
Choose Your Own Adventure
And, if you haven’t already…