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Bio
Michael Eves Shaffer was born on April 1st at one in the morning. Whether the birthday shaped him or he chose that date to represent his life, only the divine really knows. His tastes have always been extremely eclectic as well as his career paths. From his first job before he got out of high school as a dishwasher, he went into the Army to become a turbine engine mechanic. After four years, he got out and joined an Army Reserve Military Police unit. Which immediately deployed for Desert Storm. After that adventure, he tried something a little different and worked as a bookkeeper for an accounting firm. Where he traced a one cent mis-balance back to a $10,000 “irregularity”. But adventure still interested him, so he rejoined the Army to become a Calvary Scout. Which basically meant he trained to go behind enemy lines to observe what they were doing. While stationed in Baumholder, Germany, as part of the 4/12 Infantry Brigade, he was deployed to Bosnia as part of the NATO effort to fix what the UN had screwed up. After his time there, he moved fully into civilian life, doing a number of different things before he settled into software engineering.
Currently he lives in Youngstown, Ohio, with three cats (Scooter, Tanjay, and Isbit) and an Anatolian Shephard (Fafhrd). He had always been into fantasy and science fiction, a very avid reader since before he got into school. In October of 2014 he finally decided to put together the pieces and parts that had been running through his head. In April of 2015, he published his first book, Firing of the Crucible. His second book followed in June of the 2016, Forging of the Blade. Part of the delay was he had decided that he wanted to add illustrations. After going through a number of artists who said they wanted to be part of the project, he tried his hand at art. Forging shows his first attempts and a month after the released Forging, he re-released Firing with added artwork. He has also released a side-series, Attila the Runner, which is going to be a series of novella length stories about what is going on back on Earth during the time of the other, space oriented, books.
His inspiration for these books was the question “what if everyone was right?” Specifically speaking of religion. As in, what if everyone got a little piece of what actually happened right. Only interpreted it as they could with the level of technology they had at the time. For example, Adam and Eve. Science now says it looks like there is a genetic “Adam” and “Eve” that we all descend from. But try explaining that to someone who grew up in a tribe that didn’t even have running water. And have that explanation passed down over uncounted repetitions. What if there were actually “Elves” and “Dwarves” and “Gnomes” in the past that were highly advanced compared to mankind? But were so because they were aliens trying to guide us on a path that would produce who we are. Once he had that thought in his mind, everything just seemed to flow from that point. This is the first book in the first volume of what is turning into something very epic. Something he is working on grounding in hard science as we know it, along with possible science that was counted as fantasy only a few years ago. Did you know that some scientists are revisiting the Aether idea?
(Michael Eves Shaffer, August 2016)
Books
Firing the Crucible: Heroes are not born. They are made.
Attila the Runner Episode 1: Awakening
Links