More about RJ
An avid reader all of his life, Ray has been writing and developing historical narratives and short fiction as a hobby for years. His first collection assembled some of his most nuanced and character-developed storytelling into a blending of the joys and shocks of daily life. As well as writing, Ray enjoys watercolor painting, photography, travel and most importantly time well spent with family and old friends. If there is a theme to his current works and the books to come, it is a reminder that there are stories to tell everywhere in every voice; that even when we sleep, our mind is writing our dreams.
Ray was born and raised in Baltimore, Maryland and still lives in Maryland with his wife of 26 years. He has two adult daughters and works professionally in the media publishing industry. Ray attended public schools in Baltimore city and pursued undergraduate coursework in business and communications at Howard University and the University of Maryland, but found his true passion for historical research at the American Public University where he completed both undergraduate and graduate degrees in History. His capstone research paper was titled The False Revolution: Bacon’s Rebellion and its Failure at Democracy.
Inspired by the academic achievement of his research project, Ray reignited his recreational writing hobby a few years ago, but primarily for his own reading and editing pleasure. However, during the global pandemic, he decided to compile some of the short stories into an actual collection for a book which later became the self-published Painfully Obvious, A Collection of Life Stories, released in in the fall of 2024. Ray is actively pursuing literary representation at this time, but in the interim, worked on a second collection available this year and titled Brutally Honest. The Baltimore Stories.
#Onward and Upward
