Cyclone Road Biography

I'm a fiction writer and college instructor, teaching composition and creative writing at the University of North Texas. I finished an MFA from Indiana University in the spring of 2005, and my stories and reviews have appeared or are forthcoming in Oxford Magazine, Iron Horse Review, Southwestern American Literature, RE:AL and Indiana Review. I have a short story in the newly-released The Habit of Art: Best Stories From the Indiana University Fiction Workshop from Indiana University Press and I'm currently finishing revisions on my first novel, Remedy Wheel. I've written about weather and stormchasing for The Weather Channel and other national and international magazines.

As for the life story, my mother worked for the Veteran’s Administration and since my father was retired from the Army, we followed Mom's new assignments around the country, from Binghamton, New York, where I was born in 1969, to Austin and then Temple, Texas, then Tomah, Wisconsin, and finally, Bonham, Texas.

I attended Baylor University two years and transferred in 1989 to the University of North Texas in Denton, where my pals were having a far better time than I was in Waco. My friends had a band, Spirits of Innocence, so I quit school in 1993 to join the fun. Before it was over, I was managing three bands, writing for a music magazine, and booking acts for a local metal club called The Basement. I went broke anyway.

In August 1996, after studying severe storms from beginner meteorology texts and chasing accounts from the venerable Stormtrack and the email list WX-CHASE, I took off with my friend Clete Estes for my first chase on August 11. We encountered a powerful derecho in southern Oklahoma and I was hooked. I anxiously awaited the following chase season, reading everything I could find to prepare. Little did I know that over one thousand days would pass until I would see a tornado.

In November 1996, I accepted a job in south Florida that took me from the plains for three years, though I met my friend Jeff Gammons then, who remains a regular chase companion. I relocated to Texas in time for most of the 1999 chase season (but two weeks late for May 3rd). Re-enrolled at UNT, I finished my BA in Political Science and started an MA in writing, working under Lee Martin.

Back in Texas, I enjoyed a new appreciation for living in Tornado Alley, chasing insatiably for the next four years. Though I’d chased a little in 1997 (no vacation time yet), and two weeks in 1998, my truly formative chasing years were 1999, 2000, and 2001, when I chased extensively out of Denton. I met a great group of like-minded friends including Eric Nguyen, Scott Blair, Jeff Lawson, Robert Hall, Glenn Dixon, Steve Miller, Blair Kooistra, Brian Fant, and Dave Fick.

My friend Eric passed away in September 2007. He and I were regular chase partners the last few years of his life and it was a tremendous privilege to ride with him. Please visit the page I've dedicated to his legacy as one of the world's finest storm observers and severe weather photographers. His website remains available at www.mesoscale.ws.

Chasing nearly every severe opportunity, inevitably, I got better. I’ve been lucky to witness a few notable tornado days in the last several years, including the 5-27-01 Kansas haboob, the 5-29-01 northwest Texas supercell, the 10-9-01 tornado outbreak, Happy, Texas tornadoes in 2002, Stratford, Texas on 5-15-03, Attica, Kansas 5-12-04, Trego, Kansas 6-9-05, Westminster, TX 5-9-06, and Olton/Tulia, TX 4-21-07, among many more events.

I'm awed by the power and beauty of severe storms. It's a passion next to writing fiction, an essential part of my life. One of these days I'll write about it, why it's so important, and what it means. Fiction or non-fiction, who knows, but I'll save those words for then.

I enjoy traveling as chasers must. I have photos and descriptions from some trips around the US and Europe linked at the bottom of this page. I'm also a baseball fan, a loyal follower of the Atlanta Braves since 1982. So spring is a great time of year for me. It's always right around the corner.

Photo courtesy Tony Laubach