J.R. Handley is a pseudonym for a family writing team. He is a veteran infantry sergeant with the 101st Airborne Division and the 28th Infantry Division. His family is the kind of crazy that interprets his insanity into cogent English. He writes the sci-fi while they proofread it. The sergeant is a two-time combat veteran of the late unpleasantness in Mesopotamia where he was wounded, likely doing something stupid. He started writing military science fiction as part of a therapy program suggested by his doctor, and hopes to entertain you while he attempts to excise his demons through these creative endeavors. In addition to being just another dysfunctional veteran, he is a stay-at-home parent, avid reader and all-around nerd. Luckily for him, his family joins him in his fandom nerdalitry.

Team Handley:

“The Hive Mind” Behind the Adventures

The Writer: The good infantry sergeant spent time playing in Mesopotamia (aka Iraq), that resulted in his incurring a traumatic brain injury and catching a case of the PTSD.  He could’ve given up and become a statistic, crawled into a bottle or become bitter but he choose a different path.  Instead, he made the therapies help him and found that writing was his escape.  When the demons come out to play, he writes.  When the crowds get to be too much, he goes home and writes.  The insomnia keeps him up?  You guessed it, he writes.

The Family: A friend who tirelessly translates his writing into modern English.  With his brain injury from Iraq, he sometimes mixes up words and forgets plot points.  Like a guardian angel, he won’t let something silly like over 20 concussions slow downhis friend!  Instead, he helps J.R. tell his story and prepare it for the Saint, otherwise known as his mother, who edits the insanity.

The Mom: She is a lifelong lover of the written word, which she passed on to her son.  After he was hurt in Iraq, she began to assist ‘The Wife’ in advocating for her son.  When the head injury made it difficult for him to focus and read, she sought adaptive technologies, some people call them ‘KINDLES.’  When his therapists encouraged him to write, she bought the first pen.  Naturally, when Tim C. Taylor inspired him to give Indy Publishing a go, she fixed the virus prone computer and handled the back room production.  And when they learned at RavenCon that authors needs blogs and other visibility venues, she set up the website.