Father of three and husband of one, since 1982, I've done many different things in my life. From working at fast food in college, daycares, preaching, pastoring, bookkeeping, general practitioner of computers, and now writing, I've made the rounds.
Though, in truth, I began creating stories in fifth grade. My first real attempts were drawing a comic of a horse. I guess it grew from there. I went on to create many comic book characters and drew several comic books, though nothing ever published. I had no idea how to even go about it in junior high school, at the time. Though you can read the few I do have left over on my personal blog:
Copple's Creations. I also would create stories and "dramatize" them into a tape recorder, creating all my own sound effects. In high school, I wrote some stories and even wrote a Shakespearian comedy for a class assignment.
Then college hit, and my writing turned to research papers mostly. Then I went into the ministry and my writing turned to sermons, devotionals, and Bible studies. My move into Orthodox Christianity prompted me to build a web site for folks with questions about that group,
my inquirer's site.
However, since November of 2005, my focus has been on writing fiction, specifically fantasy and sci-fi. I've ended up getting a few stories and poems published, which you can check out on the left. I've also ended up working as a volunteer at one of the
Double-Edged Publishing magazines,
Haruah: Breath of Heaven as a submissions reader, illustration editor, and copy editor. Current, I'm managing editor of that magazine.
I like stories that reveal how we deal with character flaws and life in general. Fantasy and sci-fi gives me a way to explore that in settings you wouldn't normally find. That allows me to show the day to day conflicts in our lives from a perspective they may not have thought of before.
Oh yea, another of my hobbies is photos, especially of nature. Some of my photos have appeared at Haruah, one will soon be the cover of a book, and I have them on my personal photo page as well:
Copple's Photos. Some of them are experimental, but I like cool photos that bring out the wonder of God's creation.
And then there is my new project. I've entered the world of podcasting, taking over hosting duties of
Ray Gun Radio: a sister production to the on-line Space Opera magazine,
Ray Gun Revival. The podcast centers around the reading of a Space Opera story from the magazine, interviews with the authors, music, and other fun bits and pieces.
Here you can listen to a couple promos I put together.
Check it out! You can also listen to past podcast when Taylor Kent was doing the show as well.
Thanks for checking out my stories and links. May God continue to lead you on your journey.
