Hello, and welcome to my website!
I’m a historian of technology with a focus on East Asia in general, and Japan in particular. My PhD was about the Japanese space program – a story of old ladies hauling rocks, a ‘rocket trishaw’, and the first probe to bring stuff back from an asteroid. I’ve written about the role of racial thinking in wartime, the impact of space programs on Japanese localities, and China’s space past and future. My future work will include an exploration of the role of women in the work of Japan’s ‘Dr Rocket’ Itokawa Hideo, and the way in which Japanese villages incorporated space exploration into their identites. I’m interested in the history of science more generally, and the interface between people and technology. The stuff we use to communicate, travel, and educate ourselves to a large extent defines who we think we are – and that’s what interests me the most.
I’m also a writer of speculative fiction. I’ve had over twenty short stories published in venues like Welkin, Expanded Horizons, and Mythaxis. I also have a novel (The Slixes) and a collection of short stories (Tales from the Stone Lotus) in print; you can find them both on Amazon. My next novel, Triangulum: An Epic of the Nine Worlds of Surya, will be published by Rosarium Publishing in July 2023. I’m also working on another collection of short stories called The Book of Mist, and a novel, A Beast Called Man. I’ve been a huge fan of science fiction since I was a child, when I spent long winters lost in Isaac Asimov, Arthur C. Clarke, and James Tiptree, Jr. My goal is to combine a sense of wonder with mediations on the lived experience of being human. Just like me, my writing is a work in progress.
I live in the USA with my lovely wife and my two fur-kids: Lord Nibbler and Lady Leela. They like to eat, and I like to cook. I often think about giving up on everything and opening an ice cream cafe. I like manatees and elephants.