Writers are always on a voyage of self-discovery. From early childhood, I wrote stories. Technically, I was good, but I had nothing
to say. I wasn’t my own person. Like the velveteen rabbit, it took many years before I became real with experience and love. Now,
all I’ve experienced and everyone I’ve known are in my characters.
I grew up loving good science fiction and fantasy. There’s
a taste of that in all my writing, especially Zook’s Quest and The Drink of Dreams. I love writing tales that are over the top, but
told in an understated way such as By Her Rules and Seduced. They’re populated with extraordinary people with burning needs. Even
crooks, madmen, cavemen and vampires have needs. They’re only a little different than ours.
I was raised in rural Southern California.
We grew oranges and I went to a dozen different schools as Orange County grew. At UCLA, I studied English literature, acting and dabbled
in writing.
I tried many jobs. I drove taxis, was a bank messenger, painted movie sets and was studio electrician and actor.
Working for the Writer’s Guild, I met many famous people and was very close to some. I became a lawyer so that I didn’t have to worry
about money.
When LA became too crowded for me, I lived a somewhat primitive life without electricity in a forest. Later I worked
as a copywriter, DJ, and photographer in Aspen. There I was a good skier and a charter member of the once infamous Boring Old Farts
Club.
I wrote articles for Playboy and other magazines and decided to write a novel. At first, a publisher wanted it but that
fell through, then it was optioned for a movie and I got to work on the script.
Returning to California, I was a hard working
attorney for decades. After retirement, I started writing novels. Just four of them are presented here for you to buy, but there are
more. Writing is like life, there’s always room for improvement. At the moment, I’m writing about a man who enters a magical realm.
It should be finished in a few months. You’re going to love it... Stephen Holmes