Born in San Gabriel, California, & have lived in various California locales in addition to North Pole & Fairbanks, Alaska. Studied under passionate poets Maurya Simon & Judy Kronenfeld, & fabulous fiction writers Susan Straight & Stephen Minot while completing University of California @ Riverside Creative Writing Program. Later earned M.A. in Educational Technology at Pepperdine University. Currently a professor at Victor Valley College & associate professor at University of La Verne. Living in the California high desert with beautiful professor & wife, Bonnie Spears, & mega-cool artist son, Evan R. Spears, all of us in the company of an ever-expanding "rescued animal" roster. As I have done wroted about our lives here: "The moon is drunk with the sleek whiskey of our happiness." I've returned to writing after several years of self-banishment. During my earlier days, I was fortunate enough to be recognized with the following awards: The Hinderaker Award in poetry; The Polonsky Prize in fiction; The University of California Excellence in Poetry Award; The Chancellor’s Award in poetry; The Chancellor’s Award in fiction; Two (2) Intro Nominations for Poetry: U.C., Riverside & University of Alaska, Fairbanks; A University of California Poet Laureate nomination. Ah, but that was all so very, very long ago ~