I was born on June 15th, 1984 in New Britain, Connecticut. The oldest son of David and Linda Bertolini, I grew up with one passion: dinosaurs. My earliest dreams were of moving to Montana to become a paleontologist. As time passed, though; my dreams of becoming a paleontologist began to fade and my love of history grew. When it came time to apply for college admission I decided to study to become a high school level history teacher.I graduated from New Britain High School in 2002 and went to Central Connecticut State University. It was at CCSU that I was first introduced to a fantasy role-playing game called Dungeons and Dragons. It became a mild obsession for me; even after the weekly game sessions ended I was filling my time with fantasy books. I read all of R.A. Salvatore's early work and The Lord of the Rings Trilogy for the first time. During this time I wrote the first version of The Cold Tower and created Amras Oronar.As my time at school progressed I decided that teaching was not for me. Now needing to take a minor I chose archaeology, a course of study that reminded me of my early dreams of paleontology. Both history and archaeology gave me insight into the human world and inspired much of Scyllia.I graduated from CCSU on December 22nd, 2007.In 2006 I first attempted to write at least 50,000 words for NaNoWriMo, the National Novel Writing Month competition. In 2008 I won NaNoWriMo and completed the first draft of The Cold Tower, though it would be nearly a year before I returned to the work to edit it for publication.I live in Connecticut where I continue to write. Aside from the story of Amras Oronar, I have also been expanding my writing into the areas of horror and science-fiction (including 'Creatures of the Night' which was inspired by the first short story I ever wrote, and 'M.O.T.H.E.R.' which was my first but not only attempt at sci-fi).At the moment I am writing samples for a few companies in an effort to be able publish titles that might appeal to a wide audience; as well as working on sequels to the Dark Heritage Saga books and to 'Creatures of the Night.'Read more about this authorRead less about this author