ABOUT THE ARTIST:
I was born and raised in the southern USA city of Atlanta, Georgia. Currently a resident in a small town on the outskirts of Atlanta, I am now retired and pursuing my love of art, music, and writing. First introduced to literature in high school, I realized how much fun it was to read. I was inspired by my high school teachers who taught me that reading a good book was like going on an adventure. Reading inspired me to write. I began writing some original songs and played a few for friends. As I wrote more and more, I realized my most popular songs were the ones that told stories. And some of those stories made their way into watercolors and drawings.
In college, my love of reading and writing grew along with my love of drawing and playing music. Enjoying the early writers like John Steinbeck, Jules Vern, Lewis Carroll, and Robert Louis Stevenson … when I read J.R.R. Tolkien for the first time, it was like I had finally found myself. The way he painted his stories into his reader’s minds by creating a whole new world just touched me. Then as I met more people who loved to read, I found new authors like Wilbur Smith, George R.R. Martin, Terry Brooks, Douglas Preston, Lincoln Child, John Grisham, J.K. Rowling …. and on and on. All of them are great writers.
In the late 1990s, I began writing my first novel, which I never completed for one reason or another. But I kept the story in the back of my mind, hoping to finish it someday. Today, that story still remains unresolved but only because one day, during my long ride into work, I saw something strange off the side of a little country road I was traveling down. That “sighting” inspired me to create and write my first complete novel ... Zuvia.
Currently, I have three more stories sitting somewhere in the back of my brain, along with one uncompleted book. I do hope to be fortunate enough to finish those someday.
R.D. Starmer
