“Jerry is a writer and photographer in the Chicago area. During the day he’s a mild-mannered webmaster and digital marketing specialist who works for a large international corporation. At night, however, he lives in a small cottage at the edge of an enchanted forest preserve, and spends time dodging mosquitos and searching for the fabled Stonehenge made of old refrigerators which is rumored to be somewhere behind his porch.”

This was once true, but alas, I’ve moved to a neighboring suburb, and while it’s still next to a forest preserve, this one is neither enchanted nor does it have any fabled structures made of discarded kitchen appliances.

As you can tell by this portrait, I’m a very serious person, with no sense of humor, and am generally withdrawn and boring.

I’m a Scorpio with my moon in Scorpio, which means I’m a Double Scorpio. To make matters worse, when I was a toddler in Douglass, Arizona, way back in the early 1960′s, I was stung by a scorpion. It was a radioactive scorpion, too, which is why I now have super powers.

Okay, I made that part up. But I am a Double Scorpio who’s been stung by a scorpion. By all rights that should make me a superhero named “The Scorpion” but unfortunately, no.

Politically I lean to the left, though parts of me lean to the right. When I was a teenager I was a self-proclaimed anarchist. Now I write science fiction and fantasy. It makes sense, doesn’t it?

As far as religion goes, I’m a stout believer in Panpsychism. Laugh at me if you must, but I’m comforted in the fact that the universe will laugh at you.

My vices are currently beer, absinthe, and Animal Crossing. My day job is that of “Digital Marketing Specialist.” I write for the interwebs, baby. It’s my job and I love it.

 My favorite dead author is Philip K. Dick. My favorite living authors are too numerous to name, and changing constantly. However, two writers in particular have had a large influence on me: Tim Powers, because he actually does something original with the fantasy genre, and Chuck Palahniuk, because he is fearless at what he’ll do in his fiction.

Tip for aspiring genre authors: Read voraciously outside your genre. Bring your own personal outside interests into your genre fiction.

Common tip given by old-time pros which I’ve found to be bogus: “Read everything you can inside your genre so you know what’s been done before.” Why is that bogus? Because what’s done before does not matter! Everything has already been done before a dozen times or more. There are only 36 basic plots (maybe less, depending on who you believe). The only original thing you bring to the table is YOU. As long as you’re writing from your own unique viewpoint, you’re doing something original. That’s why the most important thing to do is make sure you’re being yourself.