Greg Ellis

So, Who is this guy, anyway? I grew up in Ohio, near a small town called Carroll, which is halfway between Lancaster and Columbus on State Route 33. I graduated Bloom-Carroll High School with a 3.68 GPA. Carroll was one of those small towns where everyone knew everyone and the high school was no different. In 1979 I moved back to California, where I had been born, to go to college. I attended Diablo Valley College, Los Medanos College, and Calironia State University, Sacramento. Never did pick up a 4-year degree though (I'm about a semester short), but I'll finish it up one of these days. My major in college was English and Biology, but I did better in Physics and Military History at Sac State though biology has remained a life-long fascination, particularly the field of entomology (the study of insects). From 1982-1989 I worked for Warnock Hersey International, Inc. as a report writer. They did fire testing for a number of clients and all my reports went to Underwriter's Laboratories for evaluation and approval. From 1993-2002 I worked as an administrations manager for D&H Machine, Inc. We declared bankruptcy in 1998, I think, and I spent the next 4 years fighting with the owner and his buddies about money before the company finally went under. In 2003 I got into security and from late 2003-late 2004 was permanently assigned to Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. That was one of the best jobs I ever had BTW and I did it pretty well. Unfortunately, shortly before the company I was with at the time lost the contract there, I started getting sick. By the time I quit I could barely stand using a cane. By December I was hospitalized with an ancessed lung, a partial collapse of the other lung, and a massive lung infection. I spent 3 days in the hospital in December, again in February, 2008 and 1 day again in April, 2008. I lost 35 lbs (gained it all back quickly) in the process from Oct-Dec. In 2006 I started writing again after a nearly 20 year lapse with the flash fiction piece "The Meadow" which appeared in Isue #165 of Bewildering Stories. I then wrote the short story "Knock On Wood" which was also accepted by Bewildering Stories. On Janurary 1, 2007 I started writing a novel called "Emergence" which I finished the first draft of in April, 2007. The total number of writing days was 35 for a 65 thousand word novel. I went back to work on "Emergence" again earlier this year while recuperating at home, changing the title to "Hatchings". In the meantime I also wrote the short stories "Code of Law", "The Hard Man", "Survival", "Ego", and "After Action Report" and started on the next novel in the "Hatchings" series and a new novel called "Third Pulse". I joined the Analog Science Fiction Magazine Writer's Group and have been improving my skills at the craft ever since. Round about 1982 I started designing a campaign system for running space opera games. I worked on it off and on over the years until in 1995 I decided the game was good enough to take online. I created a website, found a following, and the rest is history. I called the game "Fire On The Suns". I live in Antioch, California with 2 85-lb dogs (a 12-year old Husky/Australian cowdog mix named "Shadow whom I've had since he was 12 weeks old, and a 10-year old lab/rottweiler mix named "Puppy" that I inherited from my sister when she couldn't take care of him anymore), my mother (whom I moved in with to help take care of) and her long-time roommate.

Bibliography:

Reviews: SimLife (Wired Magazine #3 or #4)

Short Stories: The Meadow (2006, Bewildering Stories #165), Knock On Wood (2007, Bewildering Stories (soon? was supposed to have appeared before Issue #282)), After Action Report (2008, Bewildering Stories (likely next year sometime)), Ego (2008, unpublished), The Hard Man (2008, unpublished), Plowshares (2008, unpublished), Survival (2008, unpublished), Code of Law (2008, unpublished)

Novella's: Spiders (1988, unpublished)

Novels: Emergence (now Hatchings, 2007, unpublished), Fire On The Suns (WIP, unpublished), Third Pulse (WIP, unpublished)

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