Phil Roiz

Phil Roiz was born in Houston, Texas and grew up in the rural suburbs near the coast. His early childhood was influenced by art, music, history, archeology, the space program, lakes and the ocean from a very early age. His family had a boat, and as an infant his earliest memories (1-2 y/o) were of seagulls, rolling waves, salt spray, and the hum of the twin outboard motors cruising in the Gulf of Mexico. When he was 4-5 years old, his neighbor, whose name was actually "Mr. Eeley," had a boat in his driveway where Phil would spend hours pretending to ride waves, race it, fly it, and go to imaginary places. Soon he began to have recurring dreams about that boat, that it would roll over to visit on its trailer. Phil would sit on the porch under the shadow of the boat's bow as it handed him ice cream and they discussed adventures. Later in life, married with four boys and a boat of his own, living in Illinois, he was on a business trip in Europe and dreamed about Mr. Eeley's boat again! On a train from Nuremberg to Amsterdam the first outline of a story was made, he became an author, and the rest is history.