Who am I? That seems like a good place to start.
I’m a scribbler and podcaster who loves pulp stories, especially sword & sorcery tales. My favorites are the dark, edgy ones, along the lines of Karl Edward Wagner’s Kane novels. It’s hard to find such stories, so I write them. I call my style Daggers & Deviltry. Because it sounds cool and appropriate. And because the term “sword & sorcery” was defiled by Hollywood cash-grabbers.
My first three novels of heroic fantasy involve settings inspired by East Asia, India, and Morocco. Southern Europe in the Middle Ages inspired the fourth, but I sprinkled plenty of exoticism in, to be sure. I’m not opposed to writing modern pulp fantasy, or even sci-fi. In fact, I have plans for such novels. However, they will still be Daggers & Deviltry in style.
I live in Birmingham, Alabama. My favorite subjects outside of writing are Daoism, Taijiquan, professional football, Crimson Tide football, ancient history, diet, and fitness.
I enjoy playing and designing role-playing games. In fact, my love of pulp fantasy began in 1990 when a copy of the Stormbringer role-playing game (4th edition with a cover by Michael Whelan) caught my eye in a comic book shop just outside of Eglin Air Force Base in Valparaiso, Florida. Years of reading Michael Moorcock, David Gemmell, Fritz Leiber, Robert E. Howard, and others followed. Embracing interests aroused by the genre, I studied history, literature, and religion at the University of Alabama. (You can’t really do anything but write, teach, or work retail if you major in such subjects.)
I don’t travel much, but I religiously attend Dragon*Con in Atlanta each year. If you’re going to be there, drop me an email. We’ll gather and chat a bit. I usually don’t bite.
Geez, I could go on forever, but I think you’ve heard enough for now.