For me, writing is an exploration. I put on my virtual pith helmet, grab my machete and start hacking through my mind, trying to find stuff that's interesting. Mostly, I just want to tell a good story -- I don't have grandiose ideas about changing the world through my prose (that would be nice, but nah -- it ain't happening).

I write mostly in the fantasy genre. I've loved fantasy since discovering Frodo, Gandalf and Smaug when I was still Hobbit-sized. For me, "The Lord of the Rings" represented how I wanted the world to be (heck, I'd still pay a lot of money for a ticket there, if anyone has one to sell). After that, it was "The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant", "Sword of Shannara" and any other fantasy novels I could get my hands on. The local library was my favorite place to be. I did more traveling there than anywhere else.

I've written in many other genres over the years (mostly during my unprofitable screenplay-writing days), including historical fiction, mystery, thriller, western and contemporary drama. But I always seem to come back to fantasy. As a genre, it's difficult to do, since you have to make up *everything* you write -- when a character walks somewhere, you have to decide what "somewhere" is -- but that's part of the appeal for me. I get to explore much further than the confines of this reality.

Ultimately writing is part of my soul. I do it because I must. I don't write to feel alive. I write because *I am* alive. I hope you'll come along on the journey with me.