About

I’ve owned my own bookstore and taught part-time in higher ed. I’ve worked as a soccer referee, a telemarketer, and as quality control on cell phone tower power amplifiers. I have a PhD in English and started the literary journal at Illinois Wesleyan University, Tributaries. I’ve been the featured poet at some of the oldest slam venues in the US, and I founded a slam in Central Texas and hosted it for five years. I wrote a book-length poetry manuscript each year in 2022, 2023, and 2024 and am a significant part of the way through a fourth one in 2025. I once got 50,000 words into a fantasy novel and then scrapped it. I design and maintain a Magic: the Gathering cube and designed an 18-card card game in the style of Button Shy’s wallet games. Every once in a while I contribute dialogue and ideas to a bestselling book series that belongs to another author. I am the sidekick to my wife, the smart one. I am the prologue to my 14-year-old, the real novel.