Well hello there!
My name’s Don. Nice to meet you!
By day I’m a mild-mannered education consultant—but by night? I write fantasy and science fiction, read the best literature ever to grace a page, and overthink one thing after another (after another, after another…)
My goal is to see life for what it truly is: enchanted.
Not the humdrum stuff surrounding us, and not the bland, mechanistic workings we can measure and manipulate—but the deep, mystical Truth behind it all.
I do this through reading, mainly. Well, that and prayer. Mainly the latter.
Who is this ‘Don’ of Whom You Speak?
I started this substack to connect with other seekers like me. Are you “my peoples?” Let’s find out:
I love both classic literature (Homer, Shakespeare, Orwell) and well-written science fiction and fantasy. And by “well written” I mean just that. I’m afraid I’m a bit of a snob. How it happened, I don’t know. It just crept up on me.
Tolkien is the grandmaster, and Gene Wolfe—wow. Just wow.
I like Watership Down, Dune, and C.S. Lewis (Narnia and That Hideous Strength, mainly).
You’ll never convince me Asimov’s Foundation is not a classic, as it was handed to pre-teen me by my beloved father-in-law in 1984, the first “real” sci-fi book I ever read. Memory eternal, Terry Hayes.
I could grit my teeth and read Brandon Sanderson if someone paid me, but not Sarah J. Maas.
I have degrees in philosophy/religion, plus English Literature and Language. Undergrad was the best 9 years of my life. (No joke.)
I was a teacher for a time, then a school administrator, and now I’m a regional education consultant. I love kids and learning.
I converted to Eastern Orthodoxy 26 years ago, leaving behind radical atheism, pop-Buddhism, and a dark, dreary world. Glory to God!
32 years ago I somehow fooled the prettiest, funniest, and most lovely girl in the world to marry me. I never take my luck I’m Jennifer Beck’s nerdish husband for granted. (“nerdish” (adj.)- to possess qualities of or similar to a nerd, geek, dweeb, or pencil-neck weirdo.)
I have two amazing kids—Ellie and Mitchell—both grown, who despite my slipshod fathering skills, turned out awesome.
I’m a lifelong, proud Midwesterner. Michigan people are good people. Michigan nature—her trees, her lakes—unmatched.
While I’ve written dozens and dozens of stories, poems, and snippets over the past thirty years, I’ve always written for myself. That’s why I only have one writing credit to my name—a small-press poem about my dogs liking the furnace repairman as much as they do me. (Sad but true.)
Right now I’m editing my magnum opus: a novel I’ve been plunking away at for nine years now. Musket-toting raccoons and rabbits struggle against weasels, the Devil, and one another in a fantastical New World. Think Redwall for adults, remixed Last of the Mohicans style. With a touch of Mark Twain. And Dostoyevsky. And the Bible. (It’s a long book.)
I like dogs—except when they try to lick my face while having my picture taken (see Exhibit A, below.)
Let’s Connect
I’ll be publishing “thoughts” on reading and whatnot every week or two, and maybe on occasion a story or short. I’d love to get to know you. Let’s overthink stuff together!
Thanks for reading, friends!
