I grew up in a college town in Ohio.  I received my Master's in Creative Writing from Ohio University, then moved to the South.  I had my fill after only a few summers, so I eventually moved to Los Angeles. Everything I read influences me in one way or another.  Some of my favorite authors are Jeanette Winterson, Dan Chaon, Bret Easton Ellis, Ernest Hemingway, Charles Dickens, Amy Hempel, Max Brooks, Grant Morrison, Rick Riordan, and Brandon Mull, just to name a few. My first book, "I Pray Hardest When I'm Being Shot At," (available everywhere now from Hellgate Press) is a true story of love and war.  I also have a collection of short stories available called "Unrequited and Other Stories."  I'm currently finishing up a YA book and shopping around a novel.