Bio

James Pray was born in 1984 in Michigan. He holds a BS in Engineering (Mechanical Concentration) from LeTourneau University and an MFA in Creative Writing/Fiction from Western Michigan University. His sole foray into short non-fiction won WMU's 2010 Frostic Graduate Creative Non-Fiction Award.

Thanks to a super-cool first grade teacher, James wrote and illustrated his first stories at the age of six. At about the same time, he began working his way through everything in his dad's paperback collection with a halfway-cool cover (starting with Jurassic Park and Rendezvous with Rama), and so developed an early and deep-running appreciation for stories that combined action with scientifically grounded and coherent worldbuilding, as well as spaceships, robots, and space exploration in general.

James first sat down to write a novel of his own at age twelve -- and from then on, he never really stopped. Not until 2005, however, did he decide to pursue writing as a serious long-term career path. The road to the starting line took about ten times longer than he originally figured, but (thanks in large part to the involvement of many helpful writers and a bunch of just-as-helpful rejections) the wait was good for him -- and for the out-of-nowhere idea that crystalized into Jonesy Flux, for that matter.

These days, James lives in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and is married to singer-songwriter and all-round amazing person Kelsey Rottiers. He has two children, a corgi, and a well-secured baby gate at his office door. Although he decided in high school that he wasn't into programming enough to pursue it in college, and then decided in college against pursuing an engineering career at all to avoid ending up in a cubicle, he currently works in a cubicle* as a software engineer/data analyst/make-it-work-guy anyway (and enjoys it, actually).

* When not working remote for apocalypse-related reasons.

As a husband, dad, writer, and engineer (the equivalent of roughly nineteen full-time jobs), James often forgets what free time is. However, when the opportunity arises, he enjoys a variety of board sports (skateboarding, wakeboarding, snowboarding, snowkiting), fly fishing, drawing, hiking, growing (and eating) very hot peppers, and video games. He also loves reading SFF, watching cartoons, 3D modeling and printing, listening to loud electronic music, drinking Monster and iced Darjeeling, and teaching his children how to build Legos and disassemble appliances.