Author | Joseph L. Selby

Fantasist, Science Fictionist, Magical Realist, Alternate Historian

Joe was born in 1977 in Columbia, MO, his parents’ fifth and final child. He wrote his first short story in 1983, and it was terrible. In 1999 he graduated from Truman State University in Kirksville, MO, with a BA degree in English (Creative Writing) and Theatre (Playwriting). His senior portfolio was the ten-minute play Jigsaw that was accepted as a regional finalist in the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival. It was performed January 2000 in Sioux Falls, SD, in front of an audience of 700 people.

After college Joe wrote for the role playing industry, co-authoring Dangerous Denizens: The Monsters of Tellene and the online PDF “Living Kingdoms of Kalamar Campaign Sourcebook” for Kenzer & Co. Following that he wrote 33 adventures for the RPGA Network, first for Kenzer’s Living Kingdoms of Kalamar campaign and then Wizards of the Coast’s Living Greyhawk campaign. None of his fictional characters began as role playing PCs, just FYI.

Joe put his writing career on hold to focus on educational technology in an attempt to improve instruction and outcomes in an industry overly focused on profit. In 2018, he earned his Master of Science in Instructional Design & Technology. He did not fail at that Sisyphean task, but he did not really succeed either. Ten years after finishing his last novel, he began to write again, working to strike a balance between his passion and his mission.

Joe currently lives in Nashua, NH, with his wife and cats. He fills his free time with board/video games, roller derby, power lifting, and breakfast food. Find him writing at the counter of one of New Hampshire’s many wonderful local breakfast eateries. Feel free to say hello, but please understand he hates cold food. It’s misanthropy with pancakes!