A lot about The Softwire comes from my own experiences growing up. No, I never traveled on a seed-ship to Orbis but I did feel like I was a slave working in my parents ceramic factory as a teenager. In the summer I would slug 50lbs+ molds around while standing in a room with kilns firing at 1400 degrees. It wasn't fun and at the time I really resented my parents for it. I felt used and not in control of what I wanted. Probably like a lot of other kids my age then but hey, what did I know, I was fourteen.

Besides writing The Sofwire series I also created Kids Need to Read, a literary charity I founded with actor Nathan Fillion and friend Denise Gary.

When I have nothing else to do, I create online games based on young adult literature. I created the Rings of Orbis for The Softwire as well as the Card Soldier Wars for Frank Beddor's Looking Glass Wars trilogy.

Currently I am working on a fantasy series titled The Wandchasers.

Play The Softwire's online game:
http://www.ringsoforbis.com