An early introduction to Tolkien sparked a lifelong fascination with fantasy literature. Tolkien eventually gave way to other fantasy writers, such as Neil Gaiman, Harlan Ellison, Stephen King, and Jim Butcher. My love of reading extends well beyond the fantasy genre and embraces writers as diverse as Maya Angelou, Tim O'Brien, James Baldwin, F. Scott Fitzgerald and Annie Proulx. It is the love of story, more than anything else, which motivates my writing. Storytelling is one of the oldest, most intrinsically human endeavors. Stories help to shape everything from our moral perspective to our world view. It is a grand tradition and one in which I am proud to play a small part. As someone who is fairly well-versed in philosophy, a discipline which is fundamentally concerned with power and the ways in which it is exercised, power plays a central role in my fiction. I am fascinated by the question of what power does a person, particularly when that power is something the person did not seek or want. How does power alter self-perception, as well as the perceptions and expectations of others? Does the mere possession of power demand that it be exercised? These are questions I try to explore in my Samuel Branch novels. Raised in Western New York, Eric Dontigney has lived in New Mexico, Florida, Wisconsin, Virginia, and Pennsylvania. He currently resides in Memphis, TN. He enjoys jogging, swimming and producing short, silly, stop-action claymation. He is a fan of photo-realism paintings, coffee and well-made food. He has a Bachelor's degree in Philosophy.