Michael John BertoliniI was born on June 15th, 1984, in New Britain, Connecticut. The oldest son of David and Linda Bertolini, I grew up with one passion: dinosaurs. My earliest dreams were of moving to Montana to become a paleontologist. As time passed, though, my dreamsof becoming a paleontologist began to fade, and my love of history grew. When it came time to apply for college admission I decided to study to become a high school-level history teacher. I graduated from New Britain High School in 2002 and went to Central Connecticut State University. It was at CCSU that I was first introduced to the fantasy role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons. It became a mild obsession for me; even after the weekly game sessions ended, I was filling my time with fantasy books. I read all of R.A. Salvatore's early work and The Lord of the Rings Trilogy for the first time. During this time, I wrote the first version of The Cold Tower and created Amras Oronar. As my time at school progressed, I decided that teaching was not for me. Now needing to take a minor I chose archaeology, a course of study that reminded me of my early dreams of paleontology. Both history and archaeology gave me insight into the human world and inspired much of Scyllia. I graduated from CCSU on December 22nd, 2007. In 2006, I first attempted to write at least 50,000 words for NaNoWriMo, the National Novel Writing Month competition. In 2008, I won NaNoWriMo and completed the first draft of The Cold Tower, although it would be nearly a year before I returned to edit it for publication. I live in Connecticut, where I continue to write. Aside from the story of Amras Oronar, I have also been expanding my writing into the areas of horror and science fiction (including 'Creatures of the Night', which was inspired by the first short story I ever wrote, and 'M.O.T.H.E.R.', which was my first sci-fi story). Read More Read Less