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Daniel Pike
Daniel Pike has suffered the machinations of his muse since the 11th grade, when he originally embarked on his quest to write the Great American Novel and see his name in print bef...view moreDaniel Pike has suffered the machinations of his muse since the 11th grade, when he originally embarked on his quest to write the Great American Novel and see his name in print before it dies. Repressed Memories (2000), which he scribbled down (mostly during Algebra) when he was 17 years old and high on anime, was the result of this early ambition.
Sadly, a college education came between him and his anime addiction. Pike was left older, wiser, and with a couple of degrees—a Bachelor of Arts in English and a Master of Arts in Education—that would probably keep the lights on in his house and his two daughters, Aurie and Kiera, clothed and fed.
Pike soon realized he had labored under the delusion that teachers, in exchange for lousy pay and long hours, were blessed with extensive vacations—during which time he would be constantly writing. It didn’t exactly work that way, but with enough caffeine, anything, even publication, is possible.
The first novel in Pike’s The Dream Box series, The Wolf of Descarta, first appeared as a partial in TZPP’s RealLies Anthology (2013) and was published in full later that year. Two sequels are currently in the works. When queried as to why he writes Speculative Fiction on the side as opposed to simply settling into the lucrative career of a public educator, his response was as follows:
“It’s not really a choice. Runners run. Politicians lie. Writers write. I suppose if I had to ‘squeeze the universe into a ball’ and provide just one sane answer, I would say that writing enables me to better understand myself as an individual. It’s cathartic. There’s also the impulse to play God and reshape the world through storytelling, and that same sense of escapism all writers hope our readers enjoy.”
His daring plan to one day escape the dehumanizing imposition of adhering to a schedule, which to him is akin to laboring in the salt mines of Carthage, was not directly stated. But as any writer worth his salt knows, inference is everything.
Follow Daniel Pike on Twitter at @pikeknight or visit his blog at www.pikeknight.com.view less