Roleplaying in mind-blowing games, writing kick-ass, for adults-only stories, so dark and graphic, nobody quite knows how to categorize them, chain-smoking stogies from dusk to dawn, basking under a nightscape, so wondrous, nary a soul should want the sunrise to despoil it, chasing my grandbaby around the neighborhood, like a lunatic, who just escaped the asylum, paintball, listening to hard-driving, ball-grabbing music for most of my waking hours, leather of any kind, but black is obviously the best, hats of every shape and size, with black being the desired ones, shades, so dark, my eyes meld into the blackness of them, when the mood strikes, copious amounts of Lynchburg lemonade, B & B, and margaritas, vigilantly watching, so as not to miss the moment, when it does get weird enough, perusing museums to discover what life and reality used to be, walking old battlefields in search of shadows of long-forgotten glory, reading the bizarre thoughts of writers, who wrote with unbridled passion, big women, and I do mean, big, and even larger ideas; those are the things that trip my trigger. What more is there?
Socrates was a fool. Moderation is for those, who don't have the imagination to take it to the extreme. My motto is to live every day, as if, it were your last. That way, you can die with your boots on, without regret. In the casino of life, only a chump doesn't go, all-in, on every hand!
For those, who want to know more. Here goes, and remember, you asked for it. Didn't you? Still reading, aren't you? They say, curiosity killed the cat. Of course, you'd tell me, you're not a silly feline.
A native Vermonter and born in 1965, I was raised in Burlington, Vermont along the shores of Lake Champlain and surrounded by the Adirondack and Green Mountains. Every so often, when the moon and stars aligned in just the right configuration, it was a joy to witness these mountain ranges, dancing amongst themselves. To this day, nobody can say with any certainty why this phenomenon occurs, and many doubt its existence, altogether, but for those of us, who fly by night, it is a thing to behold.
Twenty years ago, or so, I moved with my wife and daughter to Concord, New Hampshire, where I lived, until I moved to the redneck haven of Pembroke, where I put down, more or less, permanent roots. Time becomes much, more fluid at some point, along the line. That's how we know, we're no longer ten years old. The march of time is a constant reminder of our mortality, but, for the most part, I ignore all of that noise.
During the last three decades, before embarking on a writing career, I owned and ran a hobby shop, The Hobby Stop, with my wife and partner, was an accountant, and eventually became an attorney, my current day job. Something has to pay the bills to keep the lights of my compound from going dark in the wrong way. Generally, I appreciate all that's dark, but not, regarding that!
My wife has told me on more than one occasion that fantasy is my first love, with which, she constantly competes for my time and energy. From the age of twelve, fantasy has held a special place in my heart. That was when my sister gave me a magical box, The Basic D & D Boxed Set, featuring the module, The Keep On The Borderlands. Inside I discovered a whole new world that opened my eyes to a reality I had never considered, until I received that wondrous gift.
Over the span of four decades, I took my idea of fantasy to places, even my closest friends didn't always quite understand. I developed a unique, dark, fantastical setting, intertwined with elements of science fiction and horror. It became the backdrop for Dances Of Deliverance, an epic struggle dramatized within the framework of one-hundred fifty stories, of which, several have been completed along with the first trilogy. My material is intended for an adult audience, who want something more graphic and dark, than anything, anyone has dared to publish, before I came along, anyway. If I'm wrong on that, let me know, because I'm not aware of its existence.
Dances Of Deliverance is set within a universe called, The Cosmos. Ten novel-length trilogies will be the backbone for the epic tale. One-hundred twenty short and mid-length stories will thread around and add depth to the main body of the saga. The shorter works can be enjoyed as standalone flights of fantasy, but are meant to be read in conjunction with the trilogies.
All of my stories are written in the first-person perspective. This makes for an intimate, reading experience. The reader is right inside the psyches of the main characters. I have been told this experience is like none other and has an immersive quality to it. If my stories were compared to music, my flights of fantasy might be described as heavy doses of metal with healthy helpings of psychedelic imagery and a kaleidoscope of ideas, thrown in for good measure. My objective is to grab the reader by the balls and not let go, until the story is long over. Many a reader has told me, I've accomplished what I set out to do, and then some.
The Cosmos that I write about is a dark place, full of lots of beasts that go bump in the night. The heroes are gritty, and most likely, not what you would expect of the heroic. You won't have to be told the villains are bad apples and rotten to the core. That comes through, loud and clear. I have been told my stories build to a crescendo of rabid excitement. All I have to say about that is, "Hold onto your hats and enjoy the ride!"
Somewhere along the way, I started to write about roleplaying issues and a sundry of other topics. You can explore many of these within the Thought Train and Fantasy Blog parts of this site. Don't be afraid, the ideas probably won't change your entire perspective about gaming and reality, but then again...
A primary goal of mine is to have created worlds, characters, and situations that come alive in your imaginations and appear as real to you as your hometowns, families, and friends. In fact, it is my aspiration for you to see the places and people that you read about within my stories as areas you would like to visit and folks you would like to meet, if reality were to bend enough to allow fantasy to touch down upon our tangible existence. In conclusion, I hope the readers of my flights of fantasy enjoy my stories as much as I basked in the delight of writing them.
