Rusty is what my friends call me, but Harlan Ellison once yelled at me, "Nobody'll read anything by a guy named Rusty! It's a kid's name!" So Rus was born simply as a cheap marketing ploy.

My most recent story, "In the Mountains of Frozen Fire," was published in the July/August, 2013 Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction. A novella, "Puppy Love Land," was published in the April, 1996 F&SF, and was later nominated as Best Novella on the Preliminary Ballot for the Horror Writers of America awards.

I am also the pseudonymous author of Spelljammer: The Ultimate Helm, Dungeon of Fear, and Castle of the Undead, all published by TSR Books way back in the dim, dark '90s. Spelljammer made the Waldenbooks bestseller list.

Since 1983, I've been published in such magazines as Omni, Premiere, Gauntlet, and Storyboard, and in newspapers and regional magazines. I have participated in writing workshops with Ellison, Brian Aldiss, Gene Wolfe, and Kate Wilhelm. A spec teleplay got me in the door at Star Trek: The Next Generation, where I pitched story ideas four times. I've acted on the Discovery Channel in The New Detectives, although I was never credited. Somehow, though, Buddy the Beagle got a credit.

I've worked in marketing and advertising for eighteen years and won several awards for my presentation skills and ad campaigns. I live in central Virginia with my wife, Maria, my large, furry family, and I adore them all.