Words placed on a page and conjuring up worlds of imagination have always appealed to me. The power they hold, the keys they have to unlock something inside a reader to say to themselves in a quiet way You can do this. Is very powerful.

Like the Bible says: In the beginning was the Word.

The power and resonance of the spoken word and of the written word is majestic and powerful and sublime. It can move men to take action. It can help one to feel something deeply that never occurred to you. It can change the course of men and nations.

In effect, words do matter.

They always will matter, regardless of what the old child’s sing song about sticks and stones say. Words can hurt. Words can also heal.

Why am I here?

Because I want to sit by the spring water and drink deeply of the refreshment and thrill, the danger and beauty, the hope and the fear that each story can bring, and hopefully out of all of that come to a conclusion that uplifts and entertains and maybe even scares you.

You cannot entertain unless you speak the truth.

The truth is about the emotions, the settings, the characters and what they would and wouldn’t do.

But it all comes down to entertaining you, gentle reader.

The stories I write, flaws and all, must have only one purpose in mind: to help you escape from your life and to imagine what you would do in a situation, or how you would feel in a circumstance, and how someone can live life on their own terms as a hero.

Because, deep down, we are all heroes.

We just don’t know it yet.