I'm a writer, father of three and husband of one. I enjoy clean living and dirty jokes and love old dogs and small lakes.

After developing an early passion for writing in high school, I neglected the call of the arts to chase a paycheck. I rediscovered writing years later as a way to share life lessons with my two young sons who, it turns out, enjoy stories more than speeches. I write stories about growing up. Writing helps me make sense of life, and I find it easier to say what I want to say on paper than out my mouth. 

I grew up in the Chicago suburb of La Grange Park and had the best summer job in the world as a golf caddie. I attended college on the “Chick” Evans Scholarship for financially-needy golf caddies at the University of Illinois and spent several years in the Midwest, Colorado and London. My wife and I currently live in Vermont with our sons and a cuddly wild beast of a dog named Monty. 

When not writing, working as an EMS provider, or being taught the rules of life by my sons, I pretend to be one of the teenage characters in my novels by participating in endurance sports with no goal other than to avoid injuring myself.

My work includes the Mad Gorilla Writes website and newsletter; miscellaneous works of short fiction, non-fiction essays, and observations on the writing life; novels titled Turtle Girly Honey Dirt Country Up North and A Reason to Run; and Benny the Pug Goes on an Adventure, a children’s book published under the pen name Jim Edwards (a play on my sons’ names). My short fiction has appeared in Flash Fiction Magazine, Cold Lake Anthology and Zig Zag Lit Mag. My story The Golden Boy took first place in Flash Fiction Magazine's summer 2023 writing contest. A Reason to Run was awarded a Silver Medal by the Independent Publishers of New England in 2024.

Wondering why my website is called Mad Gorilla Writes? Years ago my son told his pre-school teachers to pronounce his last name "mad gorilla." Since then it's become one of our family's many inside jokes. It also inspired the name of one of the characters in my first novel (A Reason to Run), although given Sam Bags's last name is Bagliarello, the character is called Bad Gorilla.