JP Ishaq

JP Ishaq was born in Vermont in the winter of 1985. The son of an immigrant father, he spent a great deal of his childhood visiting family and historical sites around the world. From his grandfather he learned the art of storytelling, enraptured by tales of genies and bandits from the old world even as he fell in love with modern classics like Star Wars, The Terminator, and Jurassic Park.

His first attempts at writing came at the prompting of his sixth-grade teacher, who asked the class to create a "novel" for a class project. Writing came naturally to JP, who may have gone slightly overboard with the assignment. With the encouragement of his teachers and his parents, he continued to write short stories which, over time, coalesced into the universe and thematic basis of the Mourning Star series.

Much of JP's free time was spent reading science fiction classics such as Isaac Asimov's Foundation series, Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game and its sequels, Douglas Adams's Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, John Scalzi's Old Man's War series, and George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire. These works and many others fueled his desire to be a writer.

Due at least in part to his love of science fiction, JP studied molecular genetics at the University of Vermont, concentrating on virology and DNA recombination. He fell in love with the language of cell replication and evolution. With the aim of going into the biotechnology field, JP obtained a master's degree in business administration from the University of Vermont, focusing on production and operations management in healthcare.

A lifelong love of technology has led JP to a growing Vermont tech company, where he's lucky enough to work full time on the cutting edge of innovation while still pursuing his passion for writing, working on the next Mourning Star novel. He continues to travel for work and pleasure, eager to find out where the next plane will take him.