E. R. Harris

… was born in San Francisco, California, and raised by artist/buddhist parents. They encouraged him to draw and paint and write and sing and play instruments, so his childhood was filled with a wide variety of art projects. But he preferred reading and writing most of all—with a predilection for fantasy and science fiction—manifesting in the creation of his own stories from a very early age. Hardback journals were converted into pre-historic versions of the graphic novel: starring the X-La Flame brothers saving the galaxy against the evil Blackons!

With dreams of becoming a professional baseball play-by-play broadcaster quickly dashed by the monotony of being mired in pre-communications studies as a clueless freshman at the University of California at Santa Barbara, E.R. shape-shifted into an English major as a sophomore—without knowing exactly what he was signing up for. In a jolt to the system, he found himself having to crush ten books and hammer out ten papers per quarter—per upper-division English class! That’s not even counting all the other papers and books and readers and random work for the other classes on his ledger.

T’was an absurd academic load to throw on any teenager who has just flown from the nest for the first time in their life, but he persevered, surprising everyone, including his parents, by receiving his degree in four years. (This was unheard of in those days for students at this fine institution, tucked so idyllically between mountains, sea and islands that it’s almost a foregone conclusion that you’re supposed to stretch it out at least another year or two—for the beaches and parties alone!). Ironically, the workload from switching over to being an English major necessitated good study habits, and he found his balance between academic and social.

During those formative years in southern California, E.R. may not have become the next Bill King—“Holy Toledo!”—but he garnered the analytical and writing skills necessary to make a different dream come true . . .

But then came his twenties. A lot of basketball was involved. The Warriors were terrible back then. It was a very confusing time—what does someone do with a BA in English from the UC? Go to grad school—was the common answer. Mmm. And study what? Pick something—was the common answer. Meh.

When his knee said: ‘no more dunking, please,’ surfing took over E.R.’s life. After all, there must be physical pursuits to compliment the intellectual ones. Surfing led to exploring the world.

In his late twenties, E.R. began publishing blogs for Creative Weblogging, while also maintaining his own surf/travel/photo website.

Sports and coaching led him to become a lifelong Physical Education teacher, but, there was always something lingering in the back of E.R.’s mind . . . a creative urge to craft worlds and write stories for readers to enjoy losing themselves in. Reading has always been an outlet for him: “. . . it’s a way of taking a wild journey inside my own mind, and letting go of the burdensome real world, with all its rules, regulations and scientific barriers. Hyperspace sheath, anyone? Let’s get off this planet for awhile . . .”

Finally, after a superfluous amount of summers spent surfing and traveling, E.R.’s wife said to him in the afterglow of the first of three (so far) Warriors championships: “when are you going to write that novel?” If the Warriors can go from the embarrassment of the NBA, a perennial doormat, stomped into a flavorful pancake that the rest of the teams in the league relished traveling to the Bay Area to take a bite of—well, then he could write that novel. So he did. Now, after more than five years of dedicated hard work, he is bursting on the fantasy/sci-fi scene with two main projects: Surf the Milky Way and Chronicles of the Mermaid. The first project, Surf the Milky Way, is a work of science fiction, great for young adults and adults alike. The second project is his epic fantasy trilogy titled: Chronicles of the Mermaid, of which, Book One—The Twelve Moons of the Dolphin Princess, is currently being submitted. (Excerpts can be found here). Meanwhile, Book Two—The Eight Clans of the Merfolk, is well on its way, with the rough draft and first draft already completed. To see E.R.’s real-time progress, check his project status bar by scrolling down to the bottom on his home page