About me

My name is Loren Selby and I've got a complicated back-story.

I'm an adult introvert who hates crowds and loud noise but loves sharing stories (especially silly ones).

I wear my feelings on my sleeve but often forget to wear them on my face.

I hate arguments but enjoy debates between friends. I also overthink everything and anything from philosophy to Looney Tunes.

My childhood was unusual. I grew up in a truly loving but atypical family in rural Oklahoma. My mother was a journalist who turned homeschool mom and my father was a geologist with a gift for teaching science. (I also have a younger sister and a younger brother, now grown up.)

Reading has always been a large part of my family's culture. Mom was a genius at finding textbooks and fiction that tricked us into learning to read. However Dad was the king of stories. Because he was a cancer survivor, the best way for him to play with us was reading aloud. All five of use became crazy for books. Our single-wide trailer home held over a thousand books. (Yes, I tried to index them several times.)

Most importantly, story-time was a ceasefire between my brother Daniel and me. He got to bounce around and act out the stories, and I was wrapped up into the reading and couldn't pick on him. We both wanted to hear Dad do his 'Smaug' voice.

Another thing we could agree on was that dragon stories are the best. So I made up a story about a dragon who mistook a zoo for a buffet. It was gruesome, childishly offensive, stole names from my sister's Tolkien dictionary, and was read with silly voices and arm waving – 8 year-old Daniel loved it.

Surprising, even the adults loved it. However at the jaded age of 13, I thought my parents and parents' friends were just being nice. Writing was a hobby to balance the brain. Sciences, math, and technical skills were a better career choice. (Yes, I overthought things even as a young teen.)

Shortly afterward, my life became yet more complicated... and not the fun sort. This 'growing up' time does not make good entertainment. Simple version: my health took a nose-dive, the economy collapsed, and there were a lot of funerals and near misses. College was a nightmare. The family rallied together and everyone's scars healed.

Meanwhile, I kept writing. The zoo-devouring dragon stuck in my head and the world I called 'Mundus' grew for over ten years. Soon I began to see ideas for characters, jokes, or places everywhere – parks, checkout lines, textbooks.

The only problem is now the dragon, and the other characters, want out. They're not taking no for an answer. (Yes, my inner dialogue is very, very complicated.) I mentioned 'making a serious go at fiction' and my family all but fell over themselves yelling “GO FOR IT ALREADY!”

So in 2017, I decided to give in and join the crowd of starving American writers. My dream is to become a well-known storyteller and then a well-paid one.