About Me
My Life
I was born and raised in Tucson Arizona. My father, a copper miner who later became an Arizona Air Guardsman. My mother, a waitress and home maker. In Tucson, you are either a fan of the University of Arizona Wildcats or you are an traitor. Arizona pride runs strong here. I cannot say that my life has been typical. From a young age, I always have had a strong desire to create and build worlds, invent people to live in these worlds and tell their stories. This passion often has transcended into my life in one form or another. First by building and organizing a "club" of backyard kids in grade school to venture out into the desert unknown, build forts and play out the epics in our imagination. A club we called the desert Hawks.
My invention of the Hawks and our adventures was the first indication to myself that I liked to create fiction. Even though at the time I hated reading and writing. With the help of my first mentor, Don Grose, a junior high Art Teacher and my Kung Fu Father or Sifu I learned Wing Chun. Sifu Grose helped me understand human combat and always had moments of wisdom and insight to share.
Sifu's wisdom inspired me to dig deep into history while attending community college and challenged myself to take creative writing classes. I worked part time at OfficeMax as an Electronics Associate. I have always been told I have the gift for gab and sales came naturally to me. A special group of co-workers formed a my store #0741.
This small band of retail associates formed a bond of sorts that later somehow became a paintball team. The Hellcats. We would journey through this newly discovered world of competitive paintball alongside many interesting people, making new friends; traveling the country and competing in tournaments. I mostly coached players and managed our organization that grew into several teams and several hundred people over 10 years. We developed our own traditions, lore and friendships as we fought for our survival as a tribe for our chance to stand on the podium.
In my professional life I perused a career in residential drafting and designer working for contractors and architects throughout the southwest helping design buildings and overseeing the construction of many projects. When I could, I continued to hone my craft as a writer, and developing my "universe" adding to it elements of my experiences with people I met along the way. These stories would eventually become the Saga of the Super Sirius 7 and other stories to follow.
During all of this I fell in love with my wife Tara who is a Family Nurse Practitioner and loves to cook. She is who keeps me on safely on planet Earth. We currently live in the community Red Rock north of Tucson where we raise our 3 children, 4 cats and 2 dogs.