J. Matthew Neal

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I was born in Muncie, IN and have lived most of my life here, more or less. I remember how it was to write back in my teens . . . just a legal pad and a Sheaffer fountain pen on a sunny day, what bliss. Pages got lost sometimes, and correcting papers on my old Smith-Corona was a real pain. Today I like to write on a laptop with speech recognition, and I also use my Alphasmart NEO (shades of the Tandy 102!) for 'quick and dirty' writing (when I don't want to boot up my laptop).

I spend most of my time as a physician and residency program director, which involves a lot of writing. Not the type of writing I like, though. Although I have written a fair amount of non-fiction, fiction is my passion--making characters come to life in stories.

Many of my family members are artistically and musically talented, so I guess I have some creative genes. I can't draw worth a hoot, however. I learned a lot of writing during high school, serving on the yearbook and newspaper (in the good old days before computers).

The most important thing to me is to learn something about writing every day. I have found writers' conferences and online groups invaluable for obtaining criticism.

I am working on a medical writing seminar and possibly a text for that. "Lakes of Titan," the sequel to Specific Gravity, will focus on the possibility of life from other planets being used in a bio-terrorism plot. The background of Rad Darkkin is a pivotal part of the story, and the superhero "Mendoza the Miraculous" returns in a way you won't believe.