General Information:

I was born in Florida on February 29, 1968, and spent most of my happy childhood there (the above-right picture may not seem to indicate a happy childhood - don't be fooled). I was on the swim team in grade school, and in a rock band in high school. I graduated from Riverview High in 1985, and moved to Utah for schooling at Brigham Young University. After two years there I served two years as a missionary for the The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (the mormons). Following that, I went back to school at BYU, and I decided to move to Provo permanently after I graduated with a Bachelor's degree in Music Composition and got married.

I currently work full-time as a cartoonist, writing, drawing, and coloring Schlock Mercenary, as well as doing comics for assorted corporate clients. I quit my job for Novell, where I was the Collaboration Product Line Manager, in September of 2004. And while we're on the subject of things I used to do, I used to be on the Board of Directors at Sanctus Records, an independent record label I co-founded, and which I've since sold and watched disintegrate under the misministrations of those I turned it over to. I used to dabble in web design, but I'm so far behind the cutting edge these days there's no point in even bringing up what I used to do.

I am married to Sandra Tayler, and we have somewhere between three and five children, none of whom have consented to appear on this page. I may mention them from time to time in the Open Letters or in my Live Journal, but that's about it.. .

Interests:

I enjoy reading, especially Science Fiction, and my collection of SF paperbacks numbers somewhere over 350 titles. I enjoy listening to all kinds of music, including several subgenres that many listeners don't even regard as music. I love going to church at my congregation of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (the mormons) where I currently have a very, very enjoyable lay-clergy job as a Gospel Doctrine teacher (that's "Sunday School for Grown-ups"). I've served on several occasions with the Boy Scouts of America, an organization I'm personally happy to be associated with. I like to write, and I have an 800-page technical title to my credit. I've all but given up other leisure activities like television or computer games. I have fond memories of killing time in front of the X-files, Simpsons, Buffy TVS, Mystery Science Theater 3000, or the Discovery Channel. I don't follow the many excellent web sites for these programs, however, so you'll have to go get your own TV links.

Peculiar Interests:

I enjoy recreational pyrotechnics and discharging firearms at helpless cans, bottles, and outdated computers. I collect swords, and study the martial arts. I really enjoy dressing up for Halloween (the picture above is from Halloween 1998. That is permanent marker on my head. It came off with alchohol.), and have a constantly growing collection of "things that make good costumes". For Halloween of 1999 I was a cyborg. For Halloween of 2000, employed some expensive contact lenses, and added those to a repeat of the "tattooed weirdo" theme I had running in '98.

Goals:

Since I'm currently working at home, "living the dream" as it were, I think I've arrived. My only material goal at this point is to make it continue to work, and to earn enough to someday pay back all of the people to whom I owe so many intangibles. You know who you are. The check is in the mail, but has been postdated by a decades or so.

Projects:

Cartooning - I believe I mentioned "Schlock Mercenary" above. What started as a great diversion has become a career, and certainly qualifies as an ongoing project that I hope to keep up with for decades to come. Go read some more strips now!

Creative Writing - I'm putting together stories galore, all set in my own Science-fiction universe. As soon as one of them gets published I'll post the details.

Assorted Recording Projects - I've abandoned the music business for the indefinite future. It turns out that I'm a better cartoonist than a musician, and a better writer than a record producer. I had a good run of it, and I learned a lot, but the record company I helped create is no more. Ten years ago this would have broken my heart. Now I'm happy to have put it behind me.

Home Improvements - You know how it is... there's always SOMETHING that needs doing. In our case we've still got major projects pending in a fifth bedroom, a 3rd bathroom, some landscaping, and the garage.