E-mail Steve steve-johnson@spiralsea.com

I was born on March 10, 1970, in Ventura, California. My father worked for the federal government so we moved nineteen times before I began high school. Because of this, I became interested in portable and independent pastimes, namely, books. My first real experience with sci-fi/fantasy occurred in third grade when I read The Hobbit, followed by The Lord of the Rings. I proceeded to read that series seven times before I reached high school, which I attended in Beaverton, Oregon. By that time I had also read every scrap of good sci-fi/fantasy I had come upon, which ended up numbering almost four hundred books by the ninth grade. In those numbers were too many great novels to mention here. I will say briefly, though, that my young psyche was in part molded by Susan Cooper (The Dark is Rising), John Christopher (The Tripods, among others), Lloyd Alexander ( The Book of Three), C.S. Lewis (Narnia), Piers Anthony (Xanth, etc...Anthony used to be my favorite author, but he lost it around 1985, for which I feel a great loss), and of course, JRR Tolkien (LOTR, the first and greatest).

Looking at my list, you may notice that all of the authors are British (including Anthony) and fantasy writers more than sci-fi. I suppose fantasy is my first and greatest love, although I greatly enjoy sci-fi. Fantasy is also what I tend to write. I prefer the freedom of alternate reality over extrapolated reality.

To finish my bio, let me just say that I presently live in Salem, Oregon, with my wife and one year old daughter, in a house that I built with my own hands. I am a general construction contractor who specializes in residential remodeling, and I love to read and write.