All About...

Stephen R. Sobotka Jr. was born on April 10th, 1969 in Springfield, Missouri at
10:34 a.m.,in the rolling hill-country of the Ozark Mountains. His parents were Steven R.
Sobotka Sr., Msgt. USA Air Force (Retired) and Mary J. Edwards Sobotka, housewife.
He has a fraternal twin sister, Patricia Ann (born :59 seconds after), still living.

Stephen was educated in several public schools while his father served in the military. During a posting overseas in England, he took up acting classes under the tutilage of his English teacher. During this time, he participated in three school performances of some of William Shakespeare's plays; he was Polonius in "Hamlet", Banquo in "Macbeth" and "Cassius" in "Julius Caesar" (thus cementing his appreciation for the works of the bard, and acting).

He graduated from San Angelo Central High School in San Angelo, Texas in 1987. At 17 years old, he joined the U.S. Navy and became a hospital corpsman, serving for three years before being discharged honorably(due to medical reasons). He then attended Florida Metropolitan University in Tampa, Florida in 1994 to major in Graphic Design & Desktop Publishing. He graduated 1996 with an Associates of Sciences degree in Commercial Art.

His first foray in to writing came from exploring fan-fiction on the Internet. Most notably, by joining a group of dedicated fans of the animated show "Gargoyles", by taking part in an online fan-fiction continuation of the show "The Gargoyles Saga". From writing fan-fiction - including several cross-over stories - he began to develop the skills needed to master the writing craft.

His first original story was published in January 2000, in the online electronic magazine "Twilight Times"; entitled "Open Eyes", it was his first fantasy story. He followed this up with "Riverdaughter's Bent", published in Sabledrake Magazine; a fantasy/science fiction e-zine published by Sabledrake Enterprises in Seattle Washington.

He currently lives in a house in Tampa Bay, in Hillsborough County, Florida. He works for one of the larger fast-food corporations in the Tampa Bay area, while doing part-time work in graphic design and web-page consulting from his home. He takes part in some of the local conventions in the West and East Central Florida area, and is an active supporter of local anime clubs and is also a member of the Suncoast Fur Fandom.

# # #

Files of Interest : (Note - These files are in Rich Text & PDF Format.)

My Resume (current as of February 2001)
My Body of Published Works (current as of May 2001)
A Short Bio for Editors (current as of May 2001)