I was born in Massachusetts, but spent my formative years in Tallahassee, Florida. Moving with my family to Oakland County, Michigan in 1994, I was faced with the double whammy of high school and significant culture shock—the two locales are very different!. Though an eager student of history throughout my life, I was finally opened up to a love of writing by Bill Clair, my Science Fiction teacher during my senior year. After graduation I attended Oakland Community College, where I participated in the theater program and performed a number of roles, and continued to work with people in various service positions. My first serious attempt at writing, The Crop-Duster’s Son, was written from 2002 to 2004, undergoing revisions major and minor for the following fifteen years. During this time, I learned a great deal more about writing, through engaging with various other independent and collaborative projects across the Internet.
Some might say the circumstances of my life have posed significant hurdles, and they would be right. In addition to being significantly visually handicapped, I have had to deal with, and overcome, a number of mental disorders that will always be a factor in my life. I say this not to garner any sympathy, but to give you, the reader, a better picture of who I am and where I have come from, as well as partly why I write the stories I do. I will never be able to fly an airplane for myself, but I have been able to take to the sky in an AT-6 Texan flown by an instructor, Nevertheless, that won’t stop me from putting myself in the cockpit through the lens of my characters and the events they experience.
I consider myself a classical liberal and an ethnic Kekistani. The primacy of the individual must be respected, for when we are at last able to guarantee all of the rights, liberties and responsibilities of any one individual, we automatically do so for every individual. Likewise, I believe in the open marketplace of ideas, free of interference from government and large corporations alike; as such, I oppose Big Tech’s censorious and monopolistic practices. I also support capitalism kept in check by reasonable government and popular oversight, since over and over has history demonstrated the folly of over- and under-regulation. As such, I align myself with the Liberalist movement and their principles. While not a Stoic per se, I have no doubt unconsciously incorporated some of their principles into my life as well. It tends to help keep the cynicism at bay.
Since the publication of my debut novel, I have begun work on Per Aspera Ad Astra, the first in the Starship Halcyon series of science fiction and urban fantasy stories aimed at exploring the nature of humanity, the concept of the Great Filter as it relates to our world and species, and the Melian dialogue of power versus morality.
If you are curious about me and my writings, or just want to make friends, feel free to hit me up on Twitter @GoodwoodAlpha, or drop an e-mail via the Contact page. I look forward to hearing from you!
The Forest of Goodwood 