About Me

In this picture, I am attempting to look cool and contemplative (as if some fantastic idea is brewing in that melon of mine). I think I've succeeded in looking contemplative. Unfortunately, it appears that I am contemplating something that just drew my attention off camera, to the right. Upon further review it looks like I might be farting. In fact, the lilt of my body could suggest that I am slightly raising my leg.

  Since you have taken the trouble to visit my website (or have ended up here through some strange glitch while you were searching for midget, Asian porn), you are now a potential purchaser of my work or, at the very least, a potential fan who may or may not be willing to spend hard earned dollars to read my stuff, but may read the free shit and tell other people about it. By extension, you are one of my new, best friends.

  I suppose I owe it to you to tell you a bit about myself. I hope you find it entertaining and that you have a few minutes to spare (well, of course you have time to spare. The fact that you are perusing this particular website virtually screams that you have time to kill). By the way, that's me in the picture up there. It would be kind of weird to have a picture of someone else on the "About Me" page, so you probably figured that out already. On the other hand, people who know me would tell you that posting a picture of someone else is just the kind of thing I'd be apt to do.

  For many authors, this section is written in the third person; as if by a publicist. You’ve seen them. They say things like “Michael Kozlowski is the fresh, new voice of horror for our generation” or “Michael has (insert various awards and publishing achievements here) and is a god among men.” If I am ever successful enough to hire a publicist, maybe I’ll go that route but, for now, I’ll avoid the pretentiousness and just give you the straight skinny from the horse’s mouth (although I have no qualms with being considered a god among men. I'm just sayin'...)

  I was born and raised in Dearborn, MI (a suburb of Detroit). My formative years were spent receiving a parochial school education, all the moral influence of which was quickly tested upon attendance at a public high school. I fell just short of attaining BA’s in Graphic and Fine Arts at Wayne State University when I realized that I would likely have to hang myself if subjected to a career in typesetting and advertising and that, only upon that death, would any of my Fine Art work attain any value. Instead, I sort of fell into skilled trades positions in the automotive field and then, through a series of curious events that I still do not entirely understand, ended up running a construction company, which remains my "real" job.

  I still reside in Dearborn with my beautiful and supportive wife of 18 years, Laurie, and our two boys, Aaron and Connor, ages 14 and 8 respectively. The residential census of our home is rounded out with an oversized Chihuahua named Charlie. The family, sans the dog, spent one interesting and financially devastating year living abroad, just outside of Sydney, Australia. It was our Australian adventure that served as the catalyst for my career in writing. It was a fantastic experience (aside from the financially devastating part) and we made a bunch of great Aussie friends.

  I’m the kind of person who likes to know a little about everything and a lot about some things. I would probably do fairly well on Jeopardy or that smarter than a fifth grader show. I believe I suffer from both a compulsive personality and attention deficit disorder, which means I throw myself fully into a wide range of hobbies and interests (at least for a short time with each subject which explains the dusty saxophone in my office, my depth of knowledge concerning the rules of golf and the eclectic collection of books which cover subjects ranging from history and religion to rock bands and dog training). Once we had committed to moving to Australia I felt it necessary to learn as much about the country, and culture, as possible. This resulted in my returning from the local Borders bookstore with no less than seven books covering the history of Australia, the dangerous and not so dangerous critters that call it home (and ways to treat various venomous bites), the visa process for moving to Australia, the taxation system and local customs and culture, among other things.

  Each book was informative and some were entertaining but the experience left me feeling that there was a need for a more concise book. And so, in the interest of bettering the world at least for those souls who might find themselves in similar circumstances, I took it upon myself to write a book about moving to, working and living in Australia. I included my own experiences and peppered it with a healthy dose of information about the history, flora and fauna of this unique land. In truth, I had no delusions about it being published. It was, more or less, a memoir that I wrote for my own enjoyment.

  Although occasionally daunting, I thoroughly enjoyed the writing experience and I was reasonably pleased with the result. An expatriate website (escapeartist.com) even offered to sell the book, in e-book format, through their site. It didn’t make me a millionaire, but royalties (which still trickle in) have allowed me to, on more than one occasion, take the family out for a sumptuous feast at the local McDonalds.  A second company, Overseas Registry, also sells the book on their site. I recommend it highly and so does my mom.

  The point I am getting around to, in an admittedly circuitous route, is that writing the book about Australia was such an enjoyable experience that I decided I wanted to write some more.  As I had no plans of moving to any other parts of the globe, it appeared my career as a travel writer was going to be questionable. I opted to try my hand at fiction.

  I wouldn't say I was an especially avid reader of fiction. Certainly, as an avid reader in general, I had read a great deal of fiction works, but these were mostly limited to what one might call the "classics" and the works of Stephen King. Of course, now that I write fiction I find that I read (and enjoy) a great deal more fiction works by other authors. I do tend to lean toward the darker stuff of horror fiction but I enjoy just about everything these days. I also still read a great deal of historical and comedy stuff.

  As I've said, I was (and remain) a big Stephen King fan, as most dark fiction artists are. He's pretty much my generation's Godfather of the genre. I have been reading his works since I was just a boy and I still eagerly anticipate each, new offering. There are far, far too many other authors who motivate and inspire me, and whom I simply enjoy reading, to list. A few that I would note off the top of my head are H.P. Lovecraft, Ray Bradbury, Joe Hill, Neil Gaiman, Dan Simmons, Joe Lansdale and Dean Koontz (as far as horror/suspense/fantasy goes).

  My first foray into the world of fiction writing was a novel which was received with much acclaim by my mom and no less than four of my closest friends. While I felt the book had achieved a certain level of quality (quite frankly, I felt it was better than many of the books that I had read myself and that someone, somehow, had deemed worthy of publication), I knew that it was not the best I could do and that it needed to be rewritten. This remains a project that I am working on but I find, in all honesty, that the rewriting is not nearly as enjoyable as the first draft. I mean, I already know the ending. It is a glaring weakness in my ability as an author.

  While working on that rewrite I did attempt to send out the original manuscript to a few agents and publishers, most of which I am fairly certain sent their form rejection letters without so much as reading the title and all of which (in those kind, non-confrontational ways that they have) opted to pass on publishing or representing the work. In the meantime I began another novel that just didn’t take off like I needed it to. It had some interesting elements though, and I reworked it into a novella. This was accepted for publication by Eternal Press and I spent several days skipping around like a school girl and evoking words like “jubilation”, “triumph” and “euphoria.”

  Several other short stories followed and some of those, which you can find in the “Blatant Self-Promotion” section of this site, were accepted into magazines and such, which brings us to the present day. I continue to build my resume with short tales of horror and suspense. I find that, even though I am a generally happy person and am considered light-hearted and jovial by friends and family alike, my stories gravitate to the dark side of the human condition and generally end in a less than joyous outcome. I attribute this to that dark part of me needing a release from the optimistic front I try to maintain daily.

  And so I have become an author. In lieu of the world deciding to elect me Grand Exalted Poobah, I intend to continue the craft and, with a little luck, achieve a level of success that allows me to take the family out to a sit down restaurant that doesn’t include small plastic toys with their meals. While most of my work is in the Horror genre, I do leave myself open to other work. I write web content articles on a regular basis, have a religious book and a humor book in the works (read as, I occasionally pull up those files on my computer, review what I’ve written to date and decide to work on something else) and put to paper pretty much anything else that crosses my mind (some of which you may find on this site).

  From a more personal perspective, I sing lead in a garage band, enjoy softball and bowling leagues, am a hardcore devotee of golf (currently hovering around a 12 handicap), still try to make some time for fine art projects, am involved in my sons’ various activities (sports, performing arts, scouting, etc.), remain an avid reader (usually with three of four books going at once) and enjoy making sarcastic remarks and jokes at the expense of others, which often go over their heads but provide me with amusement.

  I thank you, again, for taking the time to visit my site and I hope that you will continue to follow me. Please read some of the stuff I post for free and don’t hesitate to follow the links to my published work. Stop in now and again to check the latest news. And feel free to go to the contact section and shoot me an email, I‘d be happy to hear from you and I'll do my best to respond.You can also leave a comment, or just sign in, at the guestbook.

  Thank you and good night. Remember to tip your waitstaff. (Elvis has left the building).

  Michael A. Kozlowski - 2010