Once Upon A Time

I remember being fascinated with pens at an early age.  That was just about the time I learned how to write in cursive.  The fact that a pen would put a permanent mark on a page, as opposed to a pencil, which could be erased, was intriguing.  I sought to make sure that what I wrote would be permanent and legible.

Fourth grade was a pivotal period in my young life. I was enrolled in one of those experimental 'open concept' schools that year.  Although they were a failed educational experiment nationwide, the concept worked on me like no other grade before or after.   I took my first Spanish class then.  It stuck.  I read my first SF book then. It's a genre that I still read and can't get enough of.  I learned how to read a map.  That came in very handy once I became a Boy Scout.  To this day I have a fascination with maps. We did those SRA Reading Labs modules that year, too.  Boy, was I hooked on reading because of them.  I wrote my first imaginative story. My life was never the same when I realized that my imagination was restless, was overflowing, and needed a voice.

I started out writing one page creative stories that had little audience (they were very imaginative, but extremely childish). In 6th grade I wrote a stage play and acted in it, too.  I didn't take to acting but my imagination was on fire.  Shortly after my 15th birthday the poetry Muse visited and refused to leave.  She stayed with me for over 20 years.  I ended up writing 15 volumes of poems (count 'em: hundreds).  In high school I co-wrote a play, again which I acted in.  I was also the co-editor of, and contributor to, a student creative writing anthology which sold out.  Although poetry was my main creative outlet for years, always in the back of my mind a couple of novel length ideas were incubating.

Despite the fact that I had an imagination that wouldn't quit, I wasn't particularly encouraged to write.  Some people have the luxury of supportive relatives.  I didn't.  If you're one of those people be thankful for that!  For encouragement I turned to my creative friends (mostly musicians) who I felt were gods.  Some of them knew that one day I would write the novels I knew were inside me.

I eventually went off to college. Thinking that I had to be practical I majored in business with an emphasis on technology.  I got into the wonderful world of computer networking and ultimately became a Microsoft certified networking consultant.  Spurred into action by a random conversation with an IT co-worker back in 2000, I wondered why I had let my novel ideas languish.  Just a few days later I launched Word 2K and went to work.  It was as if the floodgates had opened.  I had waited so long, had squashed my need to write for way too many decades, that the stories started pouring out.

Published Novels

My  first offering, called Desert Sons is a work of contemporary fiction.  Actually, I didn't start out to write that novel.  I had every intention of first writing a science fiction story. And the sci fi story was the first one that came gushing out.  But after that manuscript was completed I realized it didn't have the necessary elements to make a good story.  After all, it was my first attempt at this endeavor.  With the SF story languishing, Desert Sons popped up and asked to be written out of the clear blue.  I was the first person to be surprised.  I didn't really read all that much contemporary fiction, and was sure I couldn't contribute to that genre.  The story practically wrote itself. 

Almost as soon as it was published reader response started coming in.  It was overwhelming.  I had no idea that my two boys would touch so many people--men, as well as women.  Never in my wildest imagination (and it's pretty wild) did I think it would become a bestseller either (which it did). 

I was sure Scott and Ryan's story had ended.  But readers demanded more. 

Little did I know that the characters (some old, some new) were still talking.  I listened and started writing down what they told me. So, the sequel is called Into This World We’re Thrown.  Again, it became a bestseller.  Really.  I swear I had no idea it would happen again.  For those of you out there who have begged, cajoled, demanded, and hinted for a third installment in this series, please be patient.  The characters have ceased talking for the time being, I went on to write another series altogether, am working on an entirely different story now, and to tell the truth it's going to be difficult to find more conflict for Scott and Ryan to overcome.  I hadn't intended to write a soap opera anyway!

My partner and I have been science fiction fans since we were kids.  We also know lots of other gay people who are SF fans, too.  One of the things we've all been disappointed in is the absolute lack of gay characters in popular SF.  Come on now.  Do you really expect our entire community to believe that alternate worlds, parallel worlds, and worlds of the near and far future would have absolutely NO gay people at all in them? 

Huh!  I set out to fix that.

Stealing Some Time is a time-travel, adventure, romance featuring a whole host of gay characters--two early 20s protagonists in particular. Set in the 25th century on Earth, one of my protagonists goes back to the 19th century and falls in love with a guy he meets there.  This story  won a literary award, too.  It doesn't get any better than that!

Current Projects

The Rylerran Gateway story features two gay men, this time in their late 20s, who go on the most amazing inter-dimensional adventure you've ever read.  It should be available by late summer 2008.

But that’s not all.  Another sci-fi story is currently in the works as well.  It features two new boys, a chance meeting on another planet and a religious fanatic who wrecked havoc in the not so distant past.  I can’t give away any details just yet because it’s only just starting to take shape as of January 2008.  I hope to have it available in late 2009 or in 2010.