Hi Everyone!
Thanks for the welcome! I'm glad to be here.
I'm an author-animator-illustrator. I got my BFA in Traditional Animation at the School of Visual Arts in New York and then moved to Scotland, UK for seven years to get my PhD in Film Studies at the University of Edinburgh. I make stop motion animated short films in my studio in New York, work at an archaeological dig for half the year in Egypt (occupational hazard of being raised by an archaeologist) and write novels.
My debut novel, Digging in the Stars, was a Young Adult Sci-Fi about extraterrestrial archaeology (inspired in part by own childhood experiences growing up at archaeological sites and museums). It had a strong mystery subplot as well, relating to a cataclysmic disaster, a lost civilization and some frozen catacombs. It was published by Blaze Publishing (a small press) in 2017.
I've just completed a historical mystery for adult audiences about a disfigured American fighter pilot in 1920s Paris who stages a surreal theatrical operation to punish the traitors who destroyed his face and identity. It's actually inspired by my PhD dissertation, which was about Silent Era adaptations of 19th and early 20th century Gothic novels with a special emphasis on psychological and aesthetic representations of the monster figure. I'm in the process of sending out to agents.
Currently, I've just started work on a historical thriller set in WWI Paris about the facial prosthetics workshop of Anna Coleman Ladd. I'm doing a lot of research on gruesome murder methods and look forward to getting some useful tips here!
My tastes in fiction are pretty old-school. Some of my favorite authors include Jules Verne, Walter Scott, Robert Louis Stevenson and Maurice Leblanc.
By the way, if anyone's working on something related to film/animation history or technology (especially early film), Gothic monsters, Egyptian archaeology, or related topics I'll be happy to talk :-)