Biography

Speculations:

I’ve always enjoyed reading. I grew up on Ursula K. LeGuin, Fred Saberhagen, Terry Pratchett, and many more. But my first loves were always the science fiction and fantasy stories I kept in my head. Now they’re on paper, where they belong.

The craft:

The mechanics of writing come easily to me. I don’t struggle over punctuation, spelling, or grammar. This doesn’t make writing easier, it just makes me a good copy-editor for my own work.

The things that really matter — plot, dialogue, narrative flow, voice — do not come so easily to me. But I relish a challenge.

Me:

I was born and raised in Eugene, Oregon. I love the Willamette valley, and hope to be buried here. Preferably not tomorrow.

I live with my wife, writer Loreen Heneghan, and our daughters Beatrix and Linden.

My life by decade:

I was born in the seventies. Fortunately, thanks to the happy coincidence of being only four years old when it died, I have no memory of disco.

The eighties… Ahh, childhood. Snowball fights, romps in the park, and other things that never happened to me. I spent my childhood learning how to use computers. I helped operate a BBS when I was 12, and I spent a lot of my time in A/V, the computer lab, and theater tech.

What can I say about the nineties? I was an irrational, malevolent force for evil, which is to say, I was a teenager. I met the love of my life, Loreen, when I was sixteen, so I suppose I had a few moments of lucidity.

The 2000s… er… Y2Ks… Aughts? Whatever. The decade that just ended. I started getting serious about writing in late 2004, and haven’t stopped since. My muse is a sweaty taskmaster with a whip and a nasty disposition. Such is life.

Well. Here we are. I’m 35 years old, I’ve settled into my writing endeavors, and I’ve become a parent. I even own my own home. I guess that means I’m an adult now.

But I still don’t dress like one.