Garrett W. Vance

I grew up like a tumbleweed in the arid wilds of Eastern Washington State, riding horses and motorbikes through the sand and sage brush, enjoying great freedom from a very young age. I was always headed out on expeditions to see what lay beyond the next shady canyon or rolling hill, a curiosity which eventually led me to travel widely in Europe, Asia and Africa. When I wasn't traveling, I went to college on and off, and worked a wide variety of odd jobs- delivery man, lab assistant, hotel bellhop, tour guide, Japanese translator, aquarium store manager, teacher; I learned a lot about the world, and a lot about people- some of whom I still actually like!

I have been fascinated by science fiction and fantasy my entire life. The first adult novel I read was Asimov's I Robot. From there I went on to devour the works of the masters; Burroughs, Tolkien, Niven, Cherryh, Le Guin, Anderson, and countless more. Their visions opened my eyes to the wonders of the universe.

After living in Japan for three years, I returned to the University of Washington to finish my English degree. I give a lot of credit to the great teachers there, whose wisdom helped me become a professional author. The last ten years I have lived happily in Bangkok, Thailand, with my wonderful wife Mochi. I work from my computer, and enjoy hearing about how cold it is back in America! I love it here in The Kingdom, its a fun and fascinating country.

I am also a visual artist, and have served as the Art Director for the Grantville Gazette for the last seven years. I was briefly Art Director of Jim Baen's Universe for its last three issues, as well as their cover artist for two exciting years, a childhood dream come true. Doing all of the art for every issue of the Gazette is a big challenge, but I enjoy it a lot. I often say that those who work here should get college credits, there is so much research involved! It's been a very rewarding experience.

I have now finished my first novel, Second Chance Bird, published as a serial here in the Gazette. It was hard work, and I learned a lot from my many mistakes! I am now giving it a much needed revision to ready it for publication with Ring of Fire Press. Currently I am writing stories set in another part of the 1632 Assiti Shards Universe, the wild and wooly world of Time Spike. Someone recently compared my work to that of Edgar Rice Burroughs, and I just about jumped over the Moon! I will try hard to live up to such high praise! Please look for the continuing adventures of The Conquistador and the Cavalry Man in upcoming issues!

My two proudest achievements as a writer (so far!) are:

1. The publication of my novella Riders of the Three-Toed Horse in Jim Baen's Universe, which enjoyed a great review from Lois Tilton of the Internet Review of Science Fiction, and was chosen for the Locus Magazine Recommended Reading List for 2009.

2. My story All God's Children in the Burning East appearing in Ring of Fire III- my first print publication! It also received very positive reviews, and people are still asking for a sequel- yes, I AM working on that!

Thanks for reading folks, now I had better get back to work!

-Garrett W. Vance

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