The most amazing places I've ever lived exist only inside my mind.
~Unknown
 PictureThat’s me in front—circa 1977—the new apprentice
ABOUT ME
I’m not quite sure who said the above, but for me, truer words have never been spoken. It sums up the way I feel about the worlds I inhabit while writing fiction. They’re a part of me, just as real as any place I’ve ever been, and often a lot more interesting.

As you can see, I fell in love with science fiction at a young age and have been watching and reading it ever since. Good or mediocre, I find it hard not to indulge. Of course, bad is bad. Although, I admit I’ve made a few exceptions over the years for good ideas suffering from poor execution. Even bad sci-fi can be inspirational.

I was born and raised in the south suburbs of Chicago, Illinois. After high-school, I made a four year enlistment in the U.S. Army – served in Desert Storm and spent a year and half in Korea. Both were kind of surreal experiences that will stay with me forever, and probably the only places that even came close to rivaling the worlds in my mind. Well…except for Amsterdam. Yeah…let’s add that one to the list.

I’m pretty sure my time in service is why I now lean more toward futuristic military-style science fiction for entertainment. I love a good fictional war with crazy-brave anti-heroes, complex villains, and lots of cool destructive futuristic tech, which is why Lieutenant Colonel John Sheppard will always be one of my favorite heroes. But I’m also a sucker for a snarky female protagonist with a big gun and chip on her shoulder, like Andromeda “Steel Bitch” McKee from William C. Dietz’s Legion of the Damned prequel. I mean...the woman took down a mech bare handed. As I read that scene and the mech came crashing to ground, I knew right then, she was going into my mental Hall of Fame.

Despite my love for the genre, it took me quite a while to realize that writing science fiction was something I actually wanted to do. I studied Marketing Communications in college, and then spent the next 10-15 years learning that I hated it. I’m not sure when the realization hit, but just over five years ago, I decided to leave the agency world and took a position with a non-profit organization that I’d done work with in the past. It was, without a doubt, one of the best decisions I ever made. Stepping out of agency life felt like trading New York for Montana. It was rejuvenating. I no longer felt tired, stressed, and always on. And in the new found quiet I was able to hear a voice that had gotten lost in the chaos. It told me to write. I did. And now here I am, enjoying the journey, looking forward, never back.

Thanks for visiting,

Andre