stephenrpell.com

About The Author 

As a child of the rural South in the 50s and being raised by a single mom, I had ample opportunity for a free-range childhood. We had a few neighbors and there were a few kids roughly my age on our gravel country road. They were okay but I was more at home in the woods next to our property and some of my earliest friends were rabbits and squirrels. At least in my mind. 

In junior high, I discovered the power of words when I talked a large classmate out of beating me up at our eighth-grade picnic. I literally calmed him enough that he sat back down at our table and we all finished our meal and I did not wind up in the hospital. In the spirit of full disclosure, it was a wise-ass comment I made that stirred his wrath to begin with. 

Ever since then I have considered words my friends. They are powerful and can induce feelings of joy or bring on despair. I certainly don’t consider myself to be the best writer of all time, but when a story idea comes, I listen. There are a million new writers out there doing some great work. Once you have read one of my stories, I hope you enjoy it enough to include me in that group.  

I enlisted in the Marine Corps in 1968 and spent 1969 in Vietnam as an infantryman, or “grunt”. I remember sitting on top of a sandbag bunker in June that year looking up at the sky as the astronaut took that first small step for man. Once my active enlistment was over, I finished college with a Bachelor of Science degree with honors in Communications at the University of Tennessee. I was a radio announcer for about six years and even tried selling cars for almost a year. That was during a recession back in the mid-80s and I learned I was not cut out for that. We were paid strictly on commission. 

We did find our niche, however. My wife and I owned and operated a photography studio for ten years, then later started a commercial photography and videography business that ran for seventeen years. I was Chairman of our local chamber of commerce back in 2005 and my wife and I worked with the United Way for ten years. 

My author description would not be complete without mentioning that I am an occasional writer. There are many writers today that can churn out a book a month. That is not me. I do not write for a living, I write when the inspiration strikes. It seems my best stories turn out to be either short stories or novellas. So far that inspiration has led me to write science fiction, spiritual fantasy, romance, and even one slightly erotic novella. My time is otherwise occupied with our two golden retrievers, a small hobby vegetable garden, a hummingbird flower garden with a water feature and minor woodworking projects. 

At this writing, I have been married to the lovely and talented Betsy B. Pell for fifty-three years. We had two sons. We still have one, losing our youngest in a car accident in 2012. Among her numerous acts on my behalf, she nursed me through two and a half years of chemotherapy for lymphoma. Without her, none of my creative efforts would have even happened. She truly is my life. 

You may contact me if you like at: stephenrpell@gmail.com