I wanted to be a writer since I was thirteen, when I read Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger. I put the book down, I looked up, and I said, "I want to be able to talk to a reader the way J.D. Salinger just spoke to me." I've written fourteen novels, two stage plays, three movie scripts, and a dozen short stories, often instead of working paying jobs like people tell me I'm supposed to do. While I was working in China, I became fascinated with the Terra-Cotta Soldiers. I turned that fascination into Escape of the Terra-Cotta Soldiers, Book One in the Ethan Sparks Adventures series for kids ages 9-13 and up, which was published in 2008. My love for Greek mythology has help me create my latest  -- Revenge of Poseidon's Trident -- which was published in February 2010. I live in the foothills of North Carolina with my wife, Jenn and our two dachsunds, Natalie and Carson, who have agreed to be our children.