We’re happy to announce our latest guest blogger, Eric James Stone.
As related by Eric, here’s a brief bio:
Although born in the United States, Eric James Stone spent most of his childhood in Latin America and England. No matter where he lived, he read voraciously. One of his earliest memories is of seeing an Apollo moon-shot launch on television. That might explain why he has always been fascinated by astronomy and space travel, and thanks to his father’s science fiction collection Eric grew up on a steady diet of Asimov, Clarke and Heinlein.
Eric graduated from Bountiful High School in Utah and proceeded from there to Brigham Young University. After serving a two-year mission for the Church in Rome, Italy, Eric returned to BYU. While studying for his political science degree, Eric took several creative writing classes. During those college years he wrote several science fiction and fantasy short stories, one of which he tried submitting for publication. Being a naturally lazy person, after two rejections he gave up and did not write another short story for over ten years.
During that dry spell, Eric graduated from Baylor Law School, passed the Texas Bar Exam, worked on a losing Congressional campaign in upstate New York, and then took a job in Washington, D.C., with one of those special interest groups politicians are always complaining that other politicians are being influenced by. After four years of life inside the Beltway, Eric feared he might become permanently cynical, so he quit his job, moved to Utah, and at the height of the Great Internet Boom convinced a dot-com company to hire him as a Web site developer. Shortly thereafter – and he insists the events are not causally related – the Great Internet Bust began.
He managed to keep his job, and still works there today.
Eric had never given up on reading science fiction and fantasy, and one day in 2002 he was suddenly filled with the desire to write a novel. Knowing that he would need the incentive of deadlines to overcome his natural laziness, he began taking creative writing classes and going to writing workshops, including Orson Scott Card’s Literary Boot Camp. The classes and workshops had some side effects: his writing skills improved, and class assignments occasionally inspired him to set aside his novel to work on a short story.
To date, two of Eric’s stories have been professionally published, with two more scheduled to come out this year, including a second-place winner in the Writers of the Future contest. He is still working on his first novel.
Oh, and he also has a blog.
Welcome aboard, Eric!
Welcome, Eric. For some reason — perhaps the two references to your laziness — that intro sounded more like self-deprecation than Kaimi’s usual gracious-host talk. In any event, we are pleased to have you here.
Yes, I should have made clear that Eric’s bio is almost entirely “as related by him.” I wouldn’t go around calling a blogger lazy – “those who live in glass houses,” etc.
Hey Eric,
I’m really looking forward to reading your posts.