The Middle Age: A Geek's Journey From Boy to Man (and back again) (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781461146001)

Born in California, Ren lived in three more states and one other country before finally settling down in Seattle, Washington. There with his wife and daughter and their two dogs and one of the heaviest cats in existence, he juggles a love of writing, music, science fiction and the occasional desire to make an honest buck. After a college professor in his English department took a good look at his work and aspirations, and subsequently challenged him to find his voice out in the world and not in a classroom, Ren decided to interpret this challenge positively (and not in a "why don't you just get out of here, you miscreant!" sort of way) and has been working to find that very voice ever since. Along the journey, such relatively mundane occupational interruptions like working as a hotel manager, music studio engineer and middle eastern drummer for belly dancers offered their respective distractions. These only served to diversify his voice, granting new accents and dialects. His life-long studies of philosophy, religion and the evolution of language have also played their part in affecting the development of his writing style. After the birth of his daughter, Ren began to focus these efforts into a singular purpose, finally designing and displaying the world of Aerthos, which subsequently evolved into an entire trilogy of stories, focusing on the Sheharid Is'iin, a race of beings charged with the protection of life itself as well as its progress and evolution in the lives beyond death. As of the end of 2009, "The Morrow Stone", the first of a three book series was published; "Reaper's Flight", the second volume was launched at the end of 2010. Since that time, the books have expanded from a trilogy into a six volume series, chronicling the goings-on of the citizens of Aesirium and Oldtown-Against-the-Wall. His "Middle Age" books have since been published as a companion piece to the Steampunk series, chronicling their genesis as well.