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Douglas H. Clark was born in Teaneck New Jersey in 1975. Growing up in the suburbs near New York City, moving to rural Pennsylvania at the age of 10 had a profound affect on him.  Suddenly cut off from everything he knew, Douglas escaped into his imagination and the land of television. Often quoted as saying, “I spent 10 years doing almost nothing but sitting in front of the Television. My useless trivia knowledge is mesmerizing.”  

On the occasions where he could pull himself away from reruns, documentaries, and movies of all sorts, he found himself immersed in science fiction and fantasy novels like Asimov’s Foundation, George Herbert’s Dune, and Doctor Who TV tie in stories. Tackling his first short story in 4th grade, he dabbled in writing for several years until committing to writing his first real short story at 15. From there he continued to hone his writing skills, experimenting in genres such as sci-fi, fantasy, surreal, slice-of-life, and poetry.

Upon entering college at the Pennsylvania State University, it took Doug two years to declare a major, finally settling on English Literature. Not surprisingly, he followed a Creative Writing Emphasis and graduated in 1998. From there, Doug’s life took a patriotic turn when he enlisted in the US Navy. Serving five years he lived in Japan and San Diego, eventually visiting seven foreign countries and seeing  a vast amount of the Pacific ocean. Notable accomplishments include visiting Iwo Jima, sailing through the Great Barrier Reef and coming 10 miles from the coast of Alaska. Serving his last two years in San Diego, Doug fell in love with America’s Finest City, where his daughter was born in 2003. 

After being honorably discharged from service and living for a short stint in Bedford, Texas, a small suburb of Fort Worth, he returned to San Diego to stay. Living in San Diego, Doug pursued his editing career, occasionally writing short stories and poetry. 

Struggling as a single parent for many years, he found comfort in losing himself in his imagination like he did when he was young. Recognizing the need for greater education and more of a professional challenge, Doug earned his master’s degree from Tiffin University; Graduating in 2011. During which time, he wrote his first novel, a rough and arguably unpublishable work, but complete. 

Only after a declaration from his brother that “Maybe you’re just not really a writer,” Doug proved him wrong by writing his second full length novel, The Lonely Voyager: The Odyssey of Ryun Un Maru. From there Doug reinvested his passion for writing, concentrating on novel and short story work, while submitting as much as he could as often as possible. He proudly received his first rejection letter in December of 2011 and has not given up yet.

Doug spends a lot of his writing time supporting his blog, The Inspiration Engine, as well as hacking out words for two novels and several short stories he’s got going right now. Ten years as a professional technical writer and editor have only fueled his love of the written word and desire to pen creative stories.