I grew up near Smyrna, Tennessee and am a graduate of Smyrna High School. Currently I serve as Professor of Philosophy at Methodist University in Fayetteville, North Carolina, where I’ve worked since 1994. A perk of being a faculty member is the ability to take courses for credit free, and I took advantage of that benefit by taking almost all the creative writing courses offered in the catalog. I am also a 2007 graduate of The Writer’s Loft (now MTSU Write) and of the Odyssey Writing Workshop in Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror. I write horror, Southern fiction, literary poetry, horror poetry, and nonfiction. My chief influences regarding how to write are James Agee, Ray Bradbury, and Ernest Hemingway. My favorite contemporary poets are Wendell Berry and Donald Hall, but my favorite poet of all time is Gerard Manley Hopkins. My horror writing is designed to scare in the old-fashioned sense of building terror over time. Most of my work is a combination of Southern Gothic and supernatural horror. My mild autism has been another topic of my writing in an indirect way, since the main character in two of my novels, End of Summer and Unpardonable Sin, is a mildly autistic child with what used to be called “Asperger’s Syndrome.” Currently one of my books, Obedience, is going to made into a feature movie by Rule 14 Productions. I welcome you to check out the links to my books; explore the samples, and if you like the writing, I hope you purchase the book or can find it in your local library. Feel comfortable looking around; I may be eccentric, but my desire is to treat my readers with respect and give them a break after a hard day of work by getting caught up in a good book.