I was born in Jacksonville Florida in 1970 and lived in Cocoa and Melbourne Florida during my high school and college years before moving to Southern California in 2004. I've worn many professional hats over the decades - in the clothing and automotive industry as well as financials - but my heart and passion have always belonged to writing. I recall being obsessed with the beauty of language and words as far back as the second grade. In later years, that obsession gradually evolved into a fascination with creating just the right fit and flow of words to mold sentences and paragraphs into powerful images. I firmly believe a good book should immerse the reader in its images and characters, make them feel the story and live the adventure. That would be difficult to do with flat images and weak words. As a reader, my own tastes are somewhat eclectic. The first book to leave a lasting impression on me was Madeleine L'Engle's A Wrinkle In Time. The way she blended physics and magic together seemed lik pure poetry (and genius) to me as a young girl. Not much later, my uncle introduced me to  J.R.R Tolkien  and I became a huge fan. I discovered Orson Scott Card and the world he created with the Ender's Game series a bit later. Gael Baudino's Strand Series is also a favorite. On the more humorous side, I adore Douglas Adams and Christopher Moore. I also find Florence King's (Confessions of a Failed Southern Lady) and Rebecca Wells (Little Altars Everywhere and the Ya-Ya Books) funny in a more heartwarming, comforting way. And even my horror I generally like tempered with liberal doses of humor - Stephen King and Dean Koontz. I have a battered paperback copy of Koontz's Brother Odd - and also Ray Bradbury's Something Wicked This Way Comes - that I still take on airplanes with me.  On the lighter side, my sister  gifted me the Charlaine Harris Sookie Stackhouse series last Christmas and I now consider Ms. Harris a guilty pleasure of mine.      

My first book, Shadows and Fire is a ForeWord Reviews BOTYA(Book Of The Year Award)winner.