About Me
The truth is I was never good at being normal. Sometimes that can be a good thing. But too often while growing up I was left feeling like an outsider, uncomfortable in my own skin.
In fifth grade, I learned to transcend the trappings of my existentially riddled mind by opening a book and escaping into the world of fiction. Suddenly I was trouncing through worlds unknown with heroes and anti-heroes, privy to their every thought and emotion as they journeyed toward self-discovery.
By ninth grade, I was fervently tearing through books, writing short stories of my own, and dreaming of my future life as an accomplished author. At last, I would be understood! Then during summer vacation after my junior year of high school I was in a car accident and clunked my head. After two weeks in the hospital, they let me go home. Physically, other than a scrape on the back of my head, I was no worse for the wear. I rejoined my friends and went back to high school in the fall. Thank god, but not really. I looked like the same old Brady. But I was different. Really different!
My brain was damaged.
My thoughts and emotions were out of whack. I was grounded in reality but disconnected from it at the same time. The worlds inside and outside my head were suddenly frightening places. The worst part about it all, though, was that no one (doctor, parent, counselor, therapist) could explain to me why my mind was acting the way it was; whether it could be fixed; or how long I’d be like this.
Eventually, like the protagonists of many books I’d read, I found my way through the fog. I went to college, graduated from law school, and went on with my life. But my trauma and experiences still haunt me, and in writing I find solace.
I live in Royal Oak, Michigan, with my wife and twin boys. It’s where I write, practice law, play superheroes, revel and muse, and generally try not to draw attention to myself.
The Alienation of Courtney Hoffman is my first novel about a high school girl who begins experiencing the unexplainable. No one believes her. Her friends think she’s crazy, her mom and doctor think she’s making things up. Then, in a cramped waiting room, Courtney meets someone who just may know exactly what it is that’s happening to her, and more importantly, what she needs to do to fix it.