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Who is E. J. Taylor?

Out of all the independent writers’ websites in the galaxy, you found your way to mine.

I hope you find what you’re looking for — if that happens to be a great read, then, odds are, you will.

I’m beating the keys on several stories, but I’m planning to blog about everything I love about speculative fiction and sci-fi: cyberpunk, post-cyberpunk, space exploration, settlements on Mars, AI…

So, who am I?

I was born and raised in Rockcastle County, Kentucky and am a composition and ESL/EFL teacher by trade. I’ve split the last decade between the splendid hollers of central and eastern Kentucky; Columbia, South Carolina; and two cities in South Korea, Daegu and Daejeon. In 2009, I graduated from Eastern Kentucky University with an M. A. in English. When I’m not writing or working, I’m traveling (COVID-permitting), trying to get better at photography, reading, and improving my Korean skills.

Though I live in South Korea, Kentucky will always be home. It’s like Happy Chandler said, “I never met a Kentuckian who wasn’t either thinking about going home or actually going home”. As you might’ve noticed, my blog’s URL pays homage to my home county.

My very good girl and I were sniffing out some story ideas a while ago…

My mind is awash with story ideas, so I’ve got no choice but to be a multi-genre writer. Maybe multi-sub-genre writer would fit, but that’s too many hyphens. God willing and the creek don’t rise (apologies to my dog!), I’ll have a story or two on Amazon (Kindle Unlimited) within the next couple of months!

And, what do I write?

Multi-sub-genre really, really fits. Most earnestly, I’m working on a series of cyberpunk private investigator stories that are set in the aftermath of a second U. S. civil war and ecological collapse. It’s set in the ambiguous, yet near, future and will very likely be my first foray into publishing on Kindle Unlimited.

Here’s the back-burner, though: I’ve got a technothriller/international thriller in the works, one that pits computational linguist Iris Hurley against the sinister unknowns who ransacked her dad’s house, stole his research, and shot his dog; another one tells the story of rival scientists, Mars colonization, and first contact; further still is the one in which a futuristic civilization creates a cult in our present-day, aiming to change our future by manipulating our past (in the present… time is an illusion).

That’s to say nothing of the steampunk adventure tale I’m working up, in which a country boy inadvertently finds his way to the Korean Empire of the late 1800s and early 1900s.

Ideas jump in my mind like grasshoppers in the summer sun, so watch this space.

One more thing: E. J. Taylor is a pseudonym. My surname is “Taylor”, but “E. J.” was my grandfather’s name. I publish academic things, and do other scholarly things, using my given name, so I chose a pseudonym to keep the two separate. No obfuscation here: if you want to join me on Twitter, that’s really me in the profile photo (as of April ’21, at least).

I’m also an avid Pokémon GO player: 6083 9328 3724 is my trainer ID; XP6M4VBY3 is my referral code if, ya know, ya wanna pick up an addiction.