So... Apparently I'm an Author Now

I’m still getting used to saying that out loud.

If I’m being honest, I didn’t grow up dreaming about becoming a novelist. I wasn’t the kid filling notebooks with stories or telling people I was going to write books someday. Most of this happened within the last few years after I started playing around with story ideas that refused to leave my head.

One of those ideas eventually became The Timeless Ronin.

I’ve always been fascinated by immortality stories, Japanese culture, and samurai. Most immortal warrior stories focus on the fighting. I found myself more interested in the opposite question: what happens to an immortal samurai who spends centuries trying to avoid violence instead of chasing it?

That idea stayed with me long enough that I finally decided to sit down and write it.

Before all this, my life went in a very different direction.

I was born in St. Cloud, Minnesota, before moving to St. Louis, Missouri when I was five. After high school, I briefly attended St. Cloud State University back in Minnesota, but quickly realized I wasn’t quite ready for college life yet. In 1997, I joined the United States Air Force and spent nearly nine years in Security Forces as military police.

During that time I lived in Korea, Iceland, spent time in Kuwait, traveled to places I never expected to see, and collected enough life experience to eventually fuel far more stories than I originally planned on writing.

After leaving the military, I eventually settled in Spokane, Washington and later joined the Department of Veterans Affairs, where I continue helping veterans today. I started in the VHA before eventually moving over to the VBA.

Somewhere in the middle of all that, I apparently became a writer.

I’ve also been married for eight years, have two children from my first marriage, and spend a probably unhealthy amount of time consuming documentaries, anime, superhero movies, military films, mystery stories, and anything involving good worldbuilding or memorable characters.

As a completely random tradition, I’ve watched Band of Brothers every Memorial Day weekend since 2001. At this point I’m pretty sure skipping a year would somehow anger the universe.

When it comes to writing, I’m still figuring a lot of this out. I think my early work was a little rough around the edges, but over time I’ve started finding my voice and the kinds of stories I genuinely want to tell.

For horror, I want readers to feel uneasy.  

For mystery, I want readers completely invested in solving what’s happening.  

For fantasy and science fiction, I want people excited to explore the world and spend time with the characters inside it.

More than anything, I want readers to care about the people in the story.

Right now, The Timeless Ronin is available on Amazon, while other projects continue developing in various states of organization, chaos, rewrites, caffeine consumption, and occasional existential crisis.

So if you somehow ended up here, welcome to the journey.

And welcome to The Mediocre Press.