Born in Kansas City, Mo in 1966, James Staples' first abortive attempt at writing was at age ten.  Since then, having discovered sex, drugs, punk rock, college, marriage, divorce, parenthood, small business, big business, religion, politics and every possible variation on the theme of coping with life as a human, he finally feels prepared to sit quietly and write a few things down (ending the occasional sentence with a preposition, just to be a punk rocker).  
     James lives in Olympia, Washington with his wife, Tinsa, their two boys and a startling number of pets. 
     Sword: Drawing, to be released May 2010, is the first in the Weyland's Forge series.