Mission Statement
I have for many years now been on a
quest for Truth.
In my youth, this took the form of a
journey: I packed a bag and hit the road. I left school, gave up everything.
Assuming another name, I lived abroad where no one I knew could find me. I put
my hand out, and it was filled; the Truth came to me.
I did not want to live a life that
had no direction. I did not want to quake and quail before that which terrified
me. I sought the ways of becoming strong and honourable, and found them in only
one place: in stories.
Who among us hasn’t been caught up
in the magic of a well-told tale? Or who hasn’t been inspired to achieve their
goals, once they’ve read the real-life stories of people who’ve done exactly
that?
After reading Fight
Club, I burned down a house.
After reading Neverwhere,
I leapt off the Sellwood Bridge.
After reading Jitterbug Perfume, I hitch-hiked to New Orleans.
I believe that my life is a story, and I intend to tell it
well. I expect to struggle and suffer, but also to rejoice - as does every hero,
in all the myths that were crafted to guide us and instruct us. I endeavor to
become the best version of myself that I can be.
My novels are attempts to create real mythic literature; by
writing of faraway, make-believe worlds that are filled with wonder and
mysterious powers, I’m able to share the insights that I’ve gained, by giving
them also to my characters.
In Last Knight, I
explore the desire of a young man to become a knight in the modern world,
searching for Excalibur in our own time. What makes a man noble? How does he
learn to be courageous? Without any role models, without exemplars, how can any
of us find ourselves, lost as we are?
The Sylvan Song was written in a blaze of wit and
rum: I gave myself the exercise to write ten pages a day, to complete a novel
of a hundred pages in a mere ten days. Each day I feared writer’s block; and
each day I marveled as the story emerged, speaking to me of Love, and Destiny.
I have a vision of a world filled
with people who are uplifted by the Truth. I invite you to share what I have
learned in my travels, both literal and literary. My stories are bound to my
own story, and to know them is also to know me.