Biographical Information

I was born in 1965 and have lived most of my life in the southcentral Pennsylvania region. I attended both Carnegie Mellon and Penn State Universities, graduating from the latter with a degree in English. I worked for fifteen years in the banking industry, mostly in marketing and e-commerce.

I've been interested in fantasy and science fiction all of my life, beginning with the original Star Trek television series. (Well, it actually began with the model kit of the Enterprise, which I found in a hobby store and thought was really cool. That was what led me to the show itself when it was on in syndication.)

Then Star Wars came along when I was eleven and the effect was similar to what you get if you jam an M-80 into the middle of a peach. Just mind-blowing, and it's not too much of a stretch to say that it changed my life. I never got into the toy collecting or dressing up aspect of fandom, but it certainly changed what I wanted to do as a career. (Oh, and for the record, I'm pretty disappointed with the prequels, which, well, kind of sucked.)

I am, of course, a huge fan of The Lord of the Rings, both the books and the movies. Dune by Frank Herbert was another pivotal book for me, as was Philip K. Dick's Valis. If you haven't read them, go pick them up! You won't be sorry.

I also have a tough time taking author bios seriously, so unless you have specific questions you want to ask on the message board, I think I'll quit before this bores even me to death.