I’m a published author, poet and playwright. I’m also a lyricist, composer, pianist, guitarist, non-fiction and children’s book writer, inventor, entrepreneur, UI designer and mobile app developer. Although I hold 27 patents and have written 14 books on computer technology, my current passion is writing books for middle grade kids.
My debut novel, Derek Knows Spooky When He See It, is the first in a series of tongue-in-cheek, middle grade ghost stories published by Pen It Publications in November, 2022. Book 2 in the series, Derek’s Spooky Scavenger Hunt, was released in February, 2023. Derek and the Dead-End Maze is due to be published in April, 2024.
Pen It Publications released my first fantasy book, The Audacious Adventures of Drippy the Dragon, in January, 2023, winner of the Purple Dragonfly Book Award and 5 Stars from Readers’ Favorite Awards.
My book of wacky kid’s poems, Sometimes I Get My Shoes on Backwards, was published in 2014, receiving five-star reviews. In 2015, this book received the Readers’ Favorite Five Stars Award and was subsequently announced a Winner of the 2015 Readers’ Favorite International Book Award Contest.
My Halloween play, Scary, Scary Night, was published as a comedy in 2014 and as a musical in 2015. The comedy was subsequently selected as a semi-finalist in the annual Playwrights First contest in New York, then as a finalist and winner of the Shawnee Original Playwright Series in March, 2015, and finally as a winner in the WILDsound Festival with a full staged reading showcased online in September, 2015. The comedy was produced by the Shawnee Players in October, 2017. The musical version was also selected as a finalist at the New York Venus/Adonis Festival/Competition in August, 2014 and as a semi-finalist in Caryl Crane Youth Theatre’s 2015 Ronald M. Ruble New Play Festival in March, 2015.
I’m a member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, the South Bay Writers Club, the NYC Playwrights Group and other creative arts organizations. With my wife and love of my life, Merlyn, I live and work happily in San Carlos, California.
