HOUSE OF PAYNE INTERNATIONAL
Personal History: What I like to do
I like to write. Back in March of 1999, myself and two other aspiring writers got together and formed an online writing group called the Grendelmen, dedicated to the reading and writing of our own silly science fiction and fantasy stories.
And if you like, you can check out the official Grendelmen website . It's pretty darn impressive.
I don't just write about guys named Starbuck who run around with laser guns, though. I write stories about all kinds of things. Guys named Moonbuck who run around with magic swords, for instance. Guys named Billy-buck who run around with enormous belt buckles and tractor caps. All kinds of things.
Matter of fact, I just recently got a story about a high school fight published in the Texas Review .
I'm really proud of that, so if you want a copy of the story, just let me know and I'll get it to you right away so you can read it and then lavish me with the praise which I deserve.
I also love to read. As far as sci-fi and fantasy, I like a lot of old stuff, like Bradbury, Asimov, and Tolkein. My oldest and truest love though, is Robert E. Howard, creator of Conan the Barbarian. I have also read a lot of Anne McCaffery, Douglas Adams, Orson Scott Card, Terry Pratchet, Roger Zelazny, Ursula LeGuin, Fritz Lieber, and Robert Jordan (although I gave up on him after Crown of Swords). Some of my other favorite authors outside of speculative fiction are: James Thurber, Jorge Luis Borges, Chinua Achebe, Flannery O�Connor, Anton Chekhov, Jonathan Swift, Voltaire, Rabelais, Machiavelli, Rousseau, Aristophanes, Augustine, and Plato.
I do lots of other stuff, too-- cooking, hiking, drawing, swimming, teaching, singing, showering, burping, spitting, staring at the sun, beard-growing, sleeping, messing about on the computer, stammering, brushing my teeth, etc. But I can't believe you really want to read much more of this, and I know I don't want to write any more, so there we have it.
Personal History : Bio sketch / story of my life / Payne family / What I like to do
All text and images copyright � 2001 John Payne. All rights reserved.