Born and raised in Massachusetts, Joel was a reluctant reader at a young age until his mother encouraged him to pick up Tolkien’s The Hobbit, thereby unlocking the wide new world of his imagination. Since then Joel has been inspired by a variety of writers ranging from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle to the timeless Charles Dickens or the always clever Jonathan Swift and Lewis Carroll, but his all-time favorite writer and poet is Edgar Allan Poe. Joel is an avid New England sports fan and loves the outdoors, fishing with his father or camping with friends, and enjoys playing softball or umpiring for the local Little League. Joel now lives and writes in Florida, and is a Junior Editor at the online news journal, thethirdreport.com where he also contributes an Opinion column entitled My Two Cents.