How does a boy from a small suburban town in Maryland just up and decide to become a Sci-Fi Writer....?
Simple...
I grew up wanting to be an astronaut!
Yes believe it or not I grew up most of my childhood wanting to be an astronaut. By 10 I was completely convinced I'd command a space colony by the time I was 30. Pretty far out there right. Well due to things I couldn't control, and the events of 9/11 I then decided I wanted to save the world. Henceforth focusing my attention and dreams on careers relating to the military, policing, and Homeland Security... Needless to say those careers probably wouldn't tke me to space.
Upon realizing I probably wouldn't be going to space unless they started space tourism, my creativity became my Space Shuttle. In my teens as Action figures became obsolete, my imagination took me to the internet and to libraries where I could pretend to leave Millersville and go on far off Space Adventures. Needless to say having space depicted by some complete stranger didn't do it for me.
So I booted the old family computer running that old Windows XP operating system and opened up Microsoft word. I loved writing, outside Astronomy, and Social Studies it was the main thing I was good at in school.I put all three together, they decided to rendezvous with my imagination and the rest was history.
I'd spend countless hours coming up with these far out space dramas, and thrillers. It was so awesome. When the stress of high school would hit, I'd just go downstairs to the office in our home and write for hours until bed time.
Through playing football, choir, and even wrestling, writing was always my favorite past time. Much like I do now, I'd write notes on note book paper, or back then in the drafts of text messags on the good old Flip phone and then take it home to my computer and write.
Believe it or not, I had compiled up to 25 stories unedited on my family's computer at the end of 2007 when it finally came to an end. Yet I'm still sure my parents believe those megabytes from the story files was the cancer to the computer. No mom it was viruses!
But anyways... I never stopped my obsession. I started realizing this was no longer just a pass time or really cool hobby I did by myself... No this was an Art, and it should be treated as Art.
In college I had a lap top where I was able to freely create my art. I don't know when the idea to publish crossed my mind to publish. But I know it was in my apartment at Stevenson that the idea that I legit could become a sci-fi writer arose.
At SU my books revolved around outer-space and alien species entirely. Far off worlds that only my imagination could create! Wars and rulers and unlimited travel. I was able to go to space and have a front row seat from the chair of my desk into some of the most insane and out of this world conflicts! They were my worlds, they were my creations! I had great pride in my work, and those few eyes that have read the books in my first series "Guardian" know exactly what I'm talking about.
I still have no idea if I'll ever publish those 5 books. But we'll see. Obviously you can tell I used ot have a lot of time on my hands.
After I was done Maniac, I wanted to test myself in a way I had never been able to. I wanted to write a book that took place on Earth, and solely Earth. I wanted to take away the space ships, the aliens, the time difference between now and then, and shrink it to about 50 years in the future on a very familiar yet extremely different Earth.
I envisioned Maniac to become my ultimate Challenge...
Maniac was supposed to take me out of my comfort zone. Now one thing is for sure. I love politics. I dabbled a bit back in college. I wanted to put Politics and Sci-fi to work, yet give it a tangible feel in a world we could all walk through. Maniac was created for that exact reason. IT takes place in the year 2063 and is absent of Aliens and space travel. I'm sure there's a whisper or two of future travel. I'm not entirely sure!
Oddly enough my first book that'll be released to the public will be a book so completely out of my comfort zone of writing. Which makes the thought of future sales and interest completely mortifying. But I know at the end of it all I do have faith.
So back to the Space cadet I was and still am. I do have plans of going back to space in my stories. It's where it all began for me. It was my inspiration and I'm going to do it complete justice. Stay tuned for that!
But until then Enjoy Maniac when it hits those digital Shelves in December. I'm excited to share my art with all of you. It's going to be a crazy ride.
And you know what.... Who knows maybe one day my dream of space travel will come true. Until then, I'll keep typing....
The Artist-.
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