ABOUT ME

Thanks for visiting my website. Writing is a lonely profession, so the fact that you're here to connect means a lot. Please bear with me while I proceed with the mandatory poetic waxing about my craft, and try not to cringe as I flirt with the art of the humblebrag.

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I am an award-winning author who writes from the borderlands between place and identity. My work explores how environment and vestigial memory can shape the human soul, all while celebrating the beauty of the English language. I was raised by a Northern Irish mother and a 7th-generation Appalachian father to recognize the complex social structures at play in every moment of the human experience, lessons that inform every word of my craft. 

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My literary fiction wrestles with the quiet ache of moral goodness in a world that often resists it, featuring stories that seek out those glints of beauty still surviving in the shadows. Meanwhile, my genre fiction— from horror and science fiction to pulp and true crime— endeavors to offer reflections on the modern world through the luster of entertainment. 

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I live in the Pacific Northwest with my loving, supportive partner, our beautiful new son, Nirvan, and the best writing companion a man could ask for, my loyal dog, Vada. 

 

Now that that’s out of the way, I can say with all candor that my true goal is to get more people reading. I see the many struggles within our society, and I cannot help but feel many of those challenges could be avoided if more people — particularly boys and young men — would connect with themselves and the whole of humanity through art. Not everyone can afford a college education or regular trips overseas, but fortunately, the collective knowledge of humanity and the wonderful diversity of our world can all be found in books. It is an art to which I am honored to contribute.