About MeI have wanted to be a writer since childhood. Like most authors, I read all of the time, starting with mysteries in grade school and then moving onto science fiction and fantasy as a teenager. I took every English literature and writing course our high school offered and went to college to become a writer. But then my practical side took over and led me toward life as an editor instead. I learned how to re-write even before I truly learned how to write. My big break came in 1997 when I was hired as senior editor of The Duelist magazine at Wizards of the Coast. I think the very week I arrived the decision was made to take The Duelist monthly. Suddenly I was editing (and writing) more words per month than I had ever done in school or in any of my previous jobs. It was a great learning experience and a wonderful environment. Never before had I worked in a place where everyone got all of my jokes and obscure TV and movie references. The next step in my writing career came the following year when I was asked by the Wizards book department to write guide books for the Urza cycle card sets (Urza’s Saga, Urza’s Legacy, and Urza’s Destiny). One small part of each book was an introduction to the story behind the cards. This was the best part of these projects because I was able to turn the summaries into mini-short stories. My favorite was “Phyrexian Autopsy” in The Official Urza’s Destiny Game Guide. I view this as my first true published short story. Based on the strength of “Phyrexian Autopsy,” I was asked to contribute to The Myths of Magic anthology, and co-wrote (with my wife, Daneen) a story entitled “The Lady of the Mountain.” Shortly after turning in that story, Jess Lebow, the editor for Magic novels at the time, asked me if I would be interested in writing Judgment, the third novel in what would become the Odyssey cycle. I left Wizards of the Coast while writing Judgment, falling prey in May 2001 to the second of what would become a string of Hasbro layoffs. Luckily, my wife had secured a design job with Fisher-Price working on their fledgling PowerTouch system. So it was off to Buffalo, where I became a full-time writer and stay-at-home dad. Over the next four years, I wrote and published three novels (Judgment and The Moons of Mirrodin for Wizards, and Blood Royal for Games Workshop), along with five more short stories ("Journey Home" in The Secrets of Magic anthology and "Ach! Hans, Run!" in The Monsters of Magic anthology, both from Wizards, "Child of the Street" in the Children of the Rune anthology and "Essence of the Dragon" in The Dragon's Return anthology, both from Malhavoc Press, as well as "Adrift in the Maelstrom," the first foray into my own, original world, which appears in the No Longer Dreams anthology from Lite Circle Books). In addition to the fiction, over the past four years I have also written:
For further information, check out the following interviews and articles: Wizards of the Coast Author Profiles: A series of article I wrote about the process of writing Judgment and working in the Magic: The Gathering Universe: |
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