Chris Barili started writing stories in his early teens, and he hand-wrote (yes, with a pen and lined notebook paper) his first novel in 1982. He transcribed it using an IBM Selectric II typewriter the next year, then hid it in a box in his attic, where no one will ever find it. He worked as Co-Editor of The Tempest, the first-ever literary magazine of Lake George Central High School in upstate New York, and won Literary Student of the Year for his graduating class in 1984.
When not oppressed by his day job, Chris writes all kinds of stories, and has published fantasy, science fiction, horror, western, and paranormal romance, with his first crime story coming out in this year’s inaugural print edition of Toe Six Magazine. He is author of the indie-published, weird western Hell’s Butcher series, with Book One (“Hell’s Marshal”) twice ranking in the top five of western horror on Amazon.
Chris believes that while storytelling is a talent, the tools and craft of writing can be taught, making education crucial. Thus, Chris holds a BGS in English from University of Nebraska at Omaha, and an MFA in Creative Writing, Popular Genre Fiction, from Western State Colorado University. Chris is lucky enough to live in the gorgeous state of Colorado, so he gets plenty of inspiration from the Rocky Mountains. That setting lends itself to staying active, and Chris is both an avid mountain biker, and a Second Degree black belt in Karate.