A BIT ABOUT ME

My interest in science fiction and fantasy goes way back. The first books I recall having read to me at bedtime were The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings. Later, my after-school sitter had a house full of novels by Robert Aspirin and Piers Anthony and I spent my afternoons reading them. I was introduced to Dungeons and Dragons at summer camp and by the end of high school had played that and tons of other RPGs.

During my undergraduate years (UW Parkside) I didn't read as much since I was busy majoring in biology, chemistry and mathematics (with a minor in physics) so there wasn't a lot of time for extra reading. When I got to graduate school I rediscovered fiction thanks to JK Rowling, Orson Scott card, Nancy Kress, Lyndon Hardy, and others. I’ve been reading speculative fictions ever since. I wrote a few unpublished stories back then, but my focus was on getting my non-fiction scientific articles written and published.

I earned my PhD in theoretical population genetics (Yale University) and then did an NIH-funded post-doc (Florida State University) where I performed artificial selection experiments with fruit flies. After that I moved out to LA and started a position as a biology professor (Calstate Long Beach) where I teach evolutionary biology and statistics for biology majors and have a research lab that studies evolution, behavior, and public health.

Now that I'm tenured, I've decided to revisit my love of writing fiction. A major theme of all of my work is how and why things change. This is natural since it's exactly what attracted me to evolutionary biology when I was a student. I also have a very analytical approach to everything, magic included.