Randy Brown

Freelance writer and citizen-soldier by day, and secret (writing as "Charlie Sherpa") blogger by night, Randy "Sherpa" Brown was preparing in 2010 to deploy as the sole "knowledge manager" for an Iowa National Guard unit of 3,000 soldiers. ("Historian, librarian, lessons-learned reporter—it was sexier to say my job was "Brigade Staff Jester,'" he jokes.) After a paperwork SNAFU dropped him off the list, he retired with 20 years of military service and a previous overseas deployment.

He then went to Afghanistan anyway, embedding briefly with his former colleagues as a civilian journalist.

Brown is the named editor or co-editor of a number of literary, genre, and non-fiction anthologies. From his home in Central Iowa, he continues to write poetry, essays, journalism, and even comic-book scripts to explore both military and midwestern narratives.

From 2015-2026, Brown was the poetry section editor at the literary journal As You Were, published twice a year (currently on hiatus) by the non-profit Military Experience & the Arts. He is a former board member of the Military Writers Guild, and is a current member of the Science-Fiction and Fantasy Poetry Association (SFPA).