Steven Hammond

Steven Hammond is a Sci-fi/fantasy author, artist and photographer from California's Central Valley where enjoys spending time with his family. When not slapping at the keyboard like an enraged Siamang, while his Buster Dog curiously looks on, he can be found at the studio performing similar actions with paint and brush, or working at the ballpark.

At one point in his life he believed that his debut novel RISE OF THE PENGUINS would win the Pulitzer prize for best penguin fiction. Then he discovered there was no such category. Undeterred, he continued to write stories about penguins.

He often basks in the praise of readers and critics alike; and relishes such comments like, "Yeah, it was pretty good." and "You write books?" and "So how many books have you sold?" and "You do this for a living? I thought my job sucked. At least I get a paycheck."

A lifelong fan of SciFi and fantasy, his earliest memories were that of reading Danny and the Dinosaur and Curious George. From there he took the next logical step and delved deeply into the world created by J.R.R. Tolkien. The art of Frank Frazetta adorned his walls as a youth and movies such as "The Giant Spider Invasion", "Planet of the Apes", "Sssssss", just about any movie that involved Ray Harryhausen, a slew of Godzilla films and, of course Star Wars, left their ineradicable impressions upon his psyche and can be seen in his work.

He is currently working on book 7, titled THE GREAT AUK WAR and Book 7. He has many projects under development.

He is forever grateful for each and every person who has taken the time to read his stories and hopes they will continue to enjoy his work. Information and exclusive content from The Rise of the Penguins Saga can be found at http://riseofthepenguins.net/