The Author · H.C. Brook

I’m a nerd who loves stories. The medium has never mattered.

The earliest thing I remember watching, other than Power Rangers and the Ninja Turtles, was the Centurions. VR Troopers and ThunderCats followed. Batman: The Animated Series and The Phantom came after them. Then Dragon Ball Z and Naruto took over.

Around then, I started dreaming up my own worlds and I never stopped.

I read the classics too, especially Monte Cristo and The Lord of the Rings. Naruto and Bleach came out weekly through high school and college. Now I wait monthly for Boruto.

Audiobooks changed my life: Mistborn, the Dresden Files, Harry Potter, and anything Simon Vance has read.

I grew up an Air Force brat, in Texas and in the Florida panhandle. The military bases created a world and culture within the existing one, and there was a genuine juxtaposition between my experience and a local’s. Each day I met kids and soldiers from all over.

What I always loved was the soldiers and civil servants who came back from overseas wearing button-ups with Super Saiyans on them, and Gundam and Robotech tees.

Grown Black GIs in anime gear made cartoons seem that much cooler. Adult Swim, the Toonami Midnight Run, and Spawn on HBO were not for kids either.

Those shirts also showed me how much I hadn’t seen. I watched Dragon Ball Z every Saturday morning on Fox, years before Cartoon Network had it, and I still had no idea why Goku was blonde or who the guy with the bowl cut was on their shirts.

That has happened my whole life. I think I have finished something, and then I find out there is more. More seasons, more volumes, more stories.

That’s why I love manga, comics, anime, and podcasts. They all just keep going.

So I went from One Saturday Morning to Crunchyroll Sundays. From Recess to Solo Leveling.

A rider on a grey horse at full gallop through driving rain, painted in blue monochrome. — This is my grandpa Aloysius. He’s entirely imaginary, but heck, he made for some fun tall tales. When my dad was in the Air Force he used to tell people about him, and when he retired they gave him a painting. I thought it was so awesome, imagining this hero galloping against the storm. Hurricane Michael ruined the original in 2018, and this is the recreation. He is the inspiration for Aloysius Abrego, the first Lord Cirrus.

The thing I wanted most as a boy and, honestly, as a man was to see heroes that I could not only sympathize with, but also feel true empathy for. Sebastian, Chuck, and Louie aren’t for everyone.

They are for me.

And for people who get excited about seeing shinobi and sorcerers who look like them.

This is a one-man show. It’s just me, guys. There is no publisher and no team behind it.

I use various tools to support my self editing, but ultimately, I found, crafted, and mastered this story and these words.

They are from me.

Even still, those tools handle what I don’t have primary skills in, like building this website. If a button looks crooked, that’s why.

I’m a new dad, so almost all my time goes to diaper changes and convincing my new boss to take naps. The rest goes to my wife, our garden, and work.

The Light of Riversong is my debut novel.

I finished it just before we welcomed our first child, so be nice. Please.