Michael T. Martinez

Michael T. Martinez was born in Cleveland, OH on October 9, 1987. He is the firstborn son of David Gregg Martinez, a Los Angeles native who was attending medical school in Cleveland on an air force scholarship, and Debra Lynn Martinez, a Long Island native who went to Cleveland to earn her Master's in Social Work.

After David graduated from medical school, the family moved to Dayton, OH, where David was stationed at Wright Patterson Air Force Base. Once David left the Air Force, the family eventually settled down in Apalachin, NY, where Michael lived with his two brothers and his parents from 2000 to 2009. In 2001 his mother graduated from Binghamton University with her second Master's, in reading education. The family planned on having a picnic to celebrate her graduation, but it snowed (even though it was the month of May) so they ended up attending the actual graduation ceremony instead. Debra's influence was essential in Michael's reading and writing development.

Michael's father is Catholic, and his mother is a Jew, which makes him a Cashew. That's right, he's a nut. Growing up, they celebrated both the Catholic and Jewish holidays in their household, but were raised Catholic. In his early adulthood, Michael went on a spiritual journey that brought him through countless Christian denominations (including but not limited to the United Church of Christ, the Episcopal Church, and the United Methodist Church), Judaism (he attended services at Reform, Conservative, and Orthodox Synagogues on his spiritual journey), Buddhism, and more. After approaching each faith with an open mind, he decided that God (or whatever one wishes to call the higher being) has given a piece of the truth to every religion but has not given the whole truth to any religion (and same with falsehood). Currently, Michael practices Judaism even though not all his beliefs fall in line with it; he believes in a theology consistent with Judaism, a philosophy consistent with Buddhism, an afterlife that involves a path to the Christian idea of Heaven but the path is more similar to Buddhist reincarnation and Nirvana, and a spirituality that combines elements of Taoism and Shintoism. This eclectic belief has been reached by mindful meditation on what he believes a truly loving, all-knowing deity would create; he has for the most part given up on organized religion, but celebrates Jewish holidays and does his best to keep Kosher.

Michael currently lives in Endicott, NY. In addition to writing, he loves to read, enjoys bicycling, likes to cook, and camps about once a month year round (even in winter). He typically camps with Boy Scout Troop 43 of Apalachin, NY, where he is an Assistant Scoutmaster and has been since turning 18 and ageing out of Scouts. Michael earned his Eagle rank through Boy Scout Troop 43. He also enjoys committing his creativity to artwork and songwriting.