D. Edward Bowen

I was born in Southern California in 1971. Observant readers will note that this was the very same year that Andrew Lloyd Webber's Jesus Christ Superstar took Broadway by storm. Jesuit scholars have spent years and hundreds of thousands of dollars attempting to place some cosmic significance to these seemingly disparate events, but so far the results have come back inconclusive.

In keeping with the tradition of precocity set by the legendary Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (with whom I share absolutely no talent whatsoever), I started writing comic-book style stories at the age of seven for a school project, wherein the stuff of inimitable blackmail was forever set in crayon and brightly-colored construction paper. As patently callow as this pursuit may have been in my early career, by the time I graduated middle school, I had decided it was time to advance my work to the realm of short stories. This life-altering decision took place about five seconds after my English Lit. teacher threatened an even greater life-altering blow to the head, should I fail to turn in an original manuscript not directly plagiarized from Mad Magazine.

This critically acclaimed work (my mother said she liked it) forged the path ahead many years later when I became an enthusiast of massively multiplayer computer games. One day while enjoying Sony Online Entertainment's EverQuest, I happened across a particularly belligerent player who openly defied anyone to write a coherent story involving "this abomination that is EQ." Challenge accepted, I began work on my first full novel, The Pact of Zeranon, which is set in the world of EverQuest, and includes many elements from the game. Once completed, it was first released in May 2001 as an eBook on the World Wide Web, featuring the talents of Maria J. William as its illustrator.

Today, I juggle my time as a system administrator with my personal pursuit of writing under the penname D. Edward Bowen. Though a challenging prospect no less than trampoline dentistry on some days, I continue writing as time allows.

My own tastes as a reader lean heavily toward such Science Fiction and Fantasy names as Michael Moorcock, Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickman, Anne McCaffrey, Robert Asprin, Douglas Adams, and my all-time favorite author who isn't me: Terry Goodkind.

While I acknowledge the profound impact of Tolkien's work on the world of fiction, and recognize the remarkable imagination prevalent in his writing, most of his prose in The Lord of the Rings and I just don't get along well. I have nothing against the man, his genius, or his masterpiece, nor do I resent anyone who appreciates Tolkien's work, but they obviously enjoy the written word on a completely different level than I do as a reader.

That being said, I would add that I thoroughly enjoyed The Hobbit as far as his writing goes, and I thought Peter Jackson's translation of The Lord of the Rings to film was brilliantly done.

Though most people who know me would respond with "Doofus," my given name is Dan.

Many of the short stories featured on this site are actually backgrounds for online game characters. Though one or two were played by me at one point or another, most of them were played by my wife in EverQuest and EverQuest II.

There's that, and I respect strong women who don't put up with a lot of bullshit. They make very compelling heroines to my way of mind, fictional or otherwise.

First off, there's no such thing as an "aspiring author"—not for long, at least. You sit down, you write a story, you let other people read it, and guess what? You're an author! The labels people attach to being contracted through a big-time publisher are vastly overrated, since we all know the world is certainly not lacking for top flight writers who never get published through one. Don't get me wrong, it's certainly a goal worth pursuing. (I always will.) Nevertheless, don't for one moment consider yourself or your work illegitimate merely for never having achieved it. Anyone who tells you otherwise is a contemptible fool.

Beyond that, the only advice I can give is to take heart, write for your own pleasure, listen to your characters, share your work generously, and don't expect to hit a home run every time for everyone. Such a standard is impossible to live up to.