Michael Titus

As I write this, I am 56 years old. I live in a small, isolated -- very rural -- town nestled between the lovely hills that make West Virginia a beguiling place to call home. My town does have a sort of Twilight Zone character about it. I suppose that's one reason I'm still here. I live with two cats -- rather, they allow me share a house with them. They don't let me out much, so I have plenty of time to write. I wear bowler hats, and collect small tin robots and other toys.

I've been writing since 7th grade. I still have my father's old Royal typewriter that he used in college. He passed it on to me, so I could learn to type, instead of jotting notes all over anything at hand, including the walls. My mother was quite happy about his gift to me. I'm still a compulsive note-taker.

I'm not going to tell you I grew up poor. If you have a lively imagination, you've got all you need. I will admit that my parents said we had very little. I was astonished to hear this. We had books. My three brothers and I grew up with stories: Grimm's Fairy Tales, Hans Christian Andersen, Mother Goose, A.A. Milne, Jules Verne, H.G. Wells, Poe, Emily Dickinson, Ray Bradbury, comic books. I cannot recall a single night that we weren't read to. I learned to read well before kindergarten. It was hard to put down a book and go outside to play, when my mother ordered it -- to find some elusive peace for herself -- although we were free then to roam the streets and farmlands that surrounded us. We did so with a glorious abandon that doesn't seem to exist in the present time.

I've written in all genres, but now devote myself exclusively to fiction. I don't know what to call what I write. It's modern urban fairy tale fantasy. That's as close as I can get. I write about people who are fairly normal. Odd, quirky things happen to them. I like to break the glass between the real and surreal, while keeping the story entirely believable. It could have happened. It should have happened. It did happen, somewhere -- or sometime, and I'm only telling you what I heard.

I am the author of the children's/YA book, "The Girl Who Read To Birds." I also wrote "The Tenth Life," with Brett Fernau. My current project is a large collection of short stories, nearly finished. They are all separate, yet joined together by a common theme. Some titles: "Six Legs, Two Legs," Rorschach's Fleas," "Addergest," and "Is That You, Pettigrew?" I'm hoping you'll enjoy this new book as much as I've loved writing it. I've also written five books for the award-winning "flattenme" series.

I write because: 1. I have to. I simply cannot not write; 2. I'm not all that good at anything else; 3. There are stories I want to read. I can't find them. So I write them.

I truly thank you for the visit. I thank all of you who have read, reviewed, and "liked" my books. I also write for all of you.