A Short Biography

Mr. Martin is a writer, currently living in Philippines. Prior to moving to Asia, two successful careers kept him busy — as an artist and as a software engineer. He has had a lifetime passion for science and new frontiers. From an early age, he has had a fascination with astronomy and the possibility of other worlds like our own.

His first drawing was at age 3 — a carefully crafted pencil sketch of a Christmas candle with flame, dripping wax, evergreen sprigs, holly leaves and berries, and a ribbon to tie them together. The exercise gave him an appreciation for the powers of observation.

Mr. Martin wrote his first fiction at age 8 — a short science fantasy about a universe within a universe and a giant Hercules embedded in a block of ice, floating through space. Years later, Mr. Martin was pleasantly amazed to see a billboard on the Sunset Strip in Los Angeles with a picture of Hercules, embedded in a block of ice, against a backdrop of stars. Though this was merely a coincidence, Mr. Martin's subsequent writing did connect with the real world in more meaningful ways.

Born in West Texas, his family moved to Maryland when he was 12. There he graduated high school in the top ten percent of his class in the third highest scholastically rated school district in the nation. Classmates and neighbors were from other nations. Mr. Martin was acclimated to an international mindset.

Mr. Martin was born into a family with mixed religious interests. His maternal grandfather was a Southern Baptist minister and missionary to Nigeria, Africa. In fact, his maternal aunt was born in Lagos, Nigeria. His father was interested in Eastern religion and mysticism, but also had a background in science. As a young adult, Mr. Martin was a divinity student for over three years.

During his first career, Mr. Martin had several one-person shows of his art. He also became expert at phototypesetting, producing work for the advertising industry and for motion pictures. Perhaps the highlight of his art career was working with two-time Academy Award-winning designer, Saul Bass, and former Star Wars special effects supervisor, George Mather; he produced several matte paintings for the Saul Bass short film of a Ray Bradbury science fiction story, "Quest" (Pyramid Media, 1984).

Mr. Martin also co-authored a novel, Touch the Stars: Emergence, with John Dalmas (Tor Books, 1983). Later, Mr. Martin won first place awards for two short works: the essay, "Outsiderness in the Scientific Community" (Krupnick Award, 1994) and short story, "Toady" (Dutton Award, 1994). He continues to write on a broad range of subjects.

In the early 1990's, Mr. Martin switched careers to computer science. Graduating from technical school cum laude with honors, Mr. Martin first worked for Control Data Corporation (Los Angeles), then Global Database Marketing (Scottsdale, AZ), IPRO Tech (Phoenix, AZ), and Smart Minds Software (Cebu, Philippines). In 2004, Mr. Martin obtained his Bachelor's degree, summa cum laude, in Computer Information Technology.

Past and present memberships include,
• American Anthropological Association (AAA)
• American Historical Association (AHA)
• Archaeological Institute of America (AIA)
• Astronomical Society of the Pacific (ASP)
• Geological Society of America (GSA)
• Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)
• Science Fiction Writers of America (SFWA)

Mr. Martin currently lives in Cebu, Philippines with his wife, Juvy.

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