M.R. COOK

For as long as I can remember, I have enjoyed reading fantasy stories and history—a dichotomist mix, I admit. This led to a keen interest in fantasy role-playing games, wargames in general, and tiny lead miniatures. These interests are a constant source of amusement to my wife and children.

I grew up reading Tolkien, Robert E. Howard, Stephen R. Donaldson, Paul Carell, and Shelby Foote. When not reading in my free time, I was playing Dungeons & Dragons or any of the staggering array of miniature and chit wargames my friends and I had collected. To this day, my closet still contains thousands of carefully painted miniatures, ready at any moment to represent adventurers on a dungeon crawl, The Battle of Five Armies, Agincourt, Gettysburg, or Stalingrad.

Twenty years in the Army and a couple of combat tours changed my perspective somewhat on warfare and history, but did not diminish my love of fantasy stories. Tolkien audiobooks gave my mind a break from the combat environment.

During my last deployment, I got started writing the story that became my first novel, Out of Their Depth. Encouraged by lifelong friends, and supported by an excellent editor, I am now writing stories I like. I sincerely hope you will too.

M.R. Cook