The Autobiography of the Author of the Autobiography of the First Human Clone 

Unlike Adam-2, I’m not my own grandpa. Nor am I his clone. But I am honored to share as many of his genes as possible, as he was one of the biggest and most beloved influences on my life as far back as I can recall. Which is about the time the picture on the right was taken.

I was born on October 9 at 6:43 a.m. in Sunnyvale, California with very few protestors standing outside the hospital. From the hospital, I was taken to our family home in nearby Sunnyvale where my navy dad, Bob, was stationed. There I spent my first two years raised by said dad, mom Sheri, and older sister Roshelle pictured below as she guides me through the yellow flowers of Sunnyvale.

When I was two years old we moved to the San Diego area, which is where my memories really begin. Those memories are highlighted by such things as receiving my stuffed Big Bird, playing with friends on our fairly close-knit block in Santee (a suburb of San Diego), putting my Bam-Bam costume on for my first trick-or-treating (and feeling both excitement and nausea about the mysterious adventure lying ahead), proudly toting my Partridge Family lunch pail to kindergarten at Hill Creek School, trying to answer the first question posed in first grade and feeling humiliated when I got it wrong (one plus one does not equal “one.” I guess that’s why I became a writer?).

And then came second grade (don't worry – the year-by-year account will end after this one!). I was able to put the one-plus-one trauma behind me by diving into reading and creative writing, earning a certificate in both from Mrs. Slater. But something else happened that would eventually inspire some of the seminal scenes in The Book of Adam. I developed a crush on a girl named Shannon, chasing her around the playground and pestering her as much as possible in a determined effort to win her heart. When it was announced that we would be putting on a skit to the song Winter Wonderland for the holidays, I was sitting on the ground next to her (of course!). Upon hearing the roles, Shannon told her friend she wanted to be the Bride. I told her that if she was the Bride, then I wanted to be the Groom. She retaliated with the threat that if I were the Groom, she wouldn’t be the Bride. A couple days later it was announced that we would be Bride and Groom. What followed was pretty much as described in the novel. 

Before I knew it I was an Accounting major at Grossmont Community College before getting bored and eventually graduating with the far more fascinating (but far less practical) History major at San Diego State. This was followed by my attention deficit disorder period in which I enjoyed a semester of law school, two semesters of a Masters in International Business program, and starting a local newspaper called the Santee Monthly. That “Santee” being the same locale as my Winter Wonderland marriage. 

In the spring of 2000 I started a local theatre website called San Diego Playbill, and in 2004 started the National Youth Theatre website. That's the year I also started working on the prologue for The Book of Adam. Much of the first draft was brought to life during my first train ride up and down the coast to Seattle and Vancouver, British Columbia. The rewrites began in earnest upon my move to Prescott, Arizona in August 2005. Though I still frequent San Diego, the setting for most of Adam's life as well as mine, while working on the sequel.

Rob's Facebook Page

My Grandparents