About Me
A picture’s worth a thousand words. Who hasn’t heard that before? As an author you’d think I’d be more interested in sharing my background using up those thousand words. But, I’m also a nature photographer (click the link to see my landscapes—after reading the entire bio, of course.).
You can see the problem. The left side of my brain wants to fill this space with a lot of text, while the right side wants to tell my story with pictures.
So, here’s a little bit of both. Beneath is the official bio the experts told me I should write, while off to the right are snippets of my life that have contributed to who I am today.
The Early Years: They tell me I was loaded with energy and filled with curiosity. Today I would have been diagnosis with ADHD. It created a few headaches for my parents, but I had a happy childhood… give or take. You wouldn’t know it from this picture.
Dazed & Confused: Rebellious as a youth, I had long hair and no clue. I survived my teenage years and had a great time doing it. During summer breaks I learned the value of hard work pumping gas, mowing lawns, and as a union laborer in a chemical plant.
The Family Man: Got married in my mid-twenties to the love of my life. We settled down, I cut my hair, and we now have four children. I started off in a warehouse and made it all the way to Warehouse Manager. Later, I took a job working as a white-collar employee in an office. As for the mustache, all I can say is that it was “in” back then.
After being downsized and out of a job for nine months with a mortgage and a family to feed, I took my shot. It was a gamble,
I grew up in a small town in northern New Jersey. I currently live with my family in Pennsylvania. Before turning my attention to writing, I made a career working in a large retirement services record-keeping organization before turning my attention to caring for seniors as they aged, all the while pursuing a secondary occupation as a freelance landscape photographer. I’ve had my photography published and represented in art galleries. While exploring the natural wonders of North America over decades, in search of the elegant landscapes I was afforded the privilege of meeting hundreds of people from all over the globe. Sharing life experiences while hiking redwood forests or atop mountain peaks with people of different cultures, has been a gift and has enriched my perspective of people. I’ve called on that diverse understanding of what joins humanity together—and what drives us apart—in the creation of unique individual characters in my writing.
but I started a business. Our family struggled at first, but we made it through. Working fifty-plus hour a week for almost twenty years I ran a homecare agency helping the elderly to remain safely in their homes.
FAQ
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Most of us have been forced to face difficulties in our lives, those of our own making or as a consequence of someone else’s actions. Sometimes we rise above them, other times we aren’t so lucky. I wanted to explore how we deal with those dark moments as individuals and collectively as a society. A story whose starting point is an idyllic utopian civilization seemed like a good place to begin the unravelling.
I’m an avid reader of science fiction and fantasy. The more epic the better. Throw in dark undertones and I’m hooked. In the end, I wrote an adult themed story that I would want to read, and I believe others will as well.
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First and foremost, anything by Joe Abercrombie for his characters, his dialogue, and his depiction of gritty realism. Stephen R. Donaldson’s works are also high on my list. His GAP series is especially dark. Donaldson’s Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever, including all the related series, are exceptionally well written. Mark Lawrence’s Broken Empire and Red Sister are both imaginative and compelling. When taking a break from SFF, I enjoy Lee Childs’ Jack Reacher novels and Robert Ludlum’s Jason Bourne books.
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I suppose you could ask that question to anyone who writes fantasy. Utopia Falling has one foot in several sub-genres; epic, dark, post-apocalyptic, new adult, adventure, portal and few others. You don’t need to be an expert or even familiar with the world the book transports you to…it’s fantasy. But it does have to be interesting; something that is entertaining. You want a story with characters that you love or hate or maybe even love to hate. If the author draws you in and delivers on the book’s promise, what else can you ask for? I think I’ve done just that.
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On a lazy Sunday afternoon sitting outside or at the beach enjoying a family vacation, print is the clear favorite. Indoors, the convenience of a tablet wins hands down.
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As an example, A Song of Ice and Fire is an exceptionally well written multi-POV (point of view), epic fantasy. I admire George RR Martin’s work immensely. Like ASOIAF, Utopia Falling is a character driven narrative where several distinct character’s actions, motivations, and decisions move the story forward, piece by piece. The realms of Tartica and Evidar, given the stakes in play, are beyond the scope of one person to determine the outcome. While each chapter or scene focuses on a single character’s points of view, they’re all interrelated in the end.