I was born in Southern California, but before I could walk my father moved us to Alaska in the summer of 1969 (while Brian Adams played in bands and met girls I was almost toddler and Northward bound). We lived in Anchorage as well as Fairbanks before moving into the log cabin my father built out in the wilderness thirty miles east of town. The Alaskan wilderness put its spell on me at an early age; I loved spending as much time as possible out in the bush with my father and younger brother (whom, I’m sad to say, I didn’t get along with well, like most siblings). In 1980 I moved back to Southern California with my mother after my parents divorced, a move that I lamented. I spent the latter half of each summer back in Alaska with my father, and the memories of the fishing trips we took during these summers are some of the best memories of my life. After I graduated high school, I attempted to recapture the feel of Alaska by camping and backpacking in the Sierra Nevada Mountains of California for the next fifteen years. I eventually married, and after spending sixteen years in California moved to Washington State. After another twelve years there, I followed my career in the IT industry and moved to northern Mississippi, where I now reside, still hoping to return home to Alaska someday.

My inspiration to begin writing can be traced to the 4^th grade when I encountered the book Songs of a Sourdough in the school library, a collection of poetry by Robert W. Service. I was spellbound by the imagery Service created with words that described the beauty and hardships of Alaska and the Canadian Yukon, beauty I saw daily while growing up. I began experimenting with poetry, which eventually led me to begin writing stories about Alaska after we’d moved to California – stories that usually revolved around or were influenced by my desire to return to Alaska. While in California I lived near China Lake Naval Weapons Center (now called the Naval Air Weapons Station), and that helped create an interest in military history that I delved deeply into from that point on. A close friend’s interest in horror literature helped develop my own interest in horror stories as well, and these three things combined to create the central theme of my stories about wilderness survival within historical settings (sometimes military) that include elements of horror and the macabre.

One of my goals is the hope that I can help bring the beauty, majesty, and even brutality of the wilderness to those who have never experienced it through my writing, as well as bring my readers back in time to the historical setting during which these stories take place. This desire stems from my own experiences as both a reader and an outdoorsman.

Along with writing and the outdoors, some of my other interests include gaming (boardgames as well as video games), aviation, and playing music.