About the Author
We make sense of the world through story.
If you change your story…you can change your life.
Roy “Griff” Griffis decided to be a writer when he was ten and never looked back. Along the way, he’s done all the usual starving artist jobs (janitor, waiter, bookstore clerk) and a few unusual ones (he was the 62nd Aviation Rescue Swimmer in US Coast Guard). He’s written poetry, plays, screenplays, and novels.
As a novelist, he’s the author of the epic historical fiction saga By the Hands of Men, the comic fantasy Cthulhu, Amalgamated series, as well as the alternative history cycle The Lonesome George Chronicles. He was also the recipient of the first “John Milius Screenwriting Award” for his original film script Cold Day in Hell.
He now lives in a small town in Texas with his very pretty and very smart wife (along with three rescue dogs and two rescue cats) in a 130-year-old historic home they renovated. Currently, he’s hard at work on the first book in a new series, with about 15 other novels glaring over his shoulder, waiting impatiently to be written.
My Favorite Things
Cats – have two Tuxedo cats right now.
The Beach – but not smooth sand. Love tide pools and craggy rocks and kelp and seals and dolphins in the distance.
Coffee – aka “a reason to go on.”
Books – the first magic I ever encountered that wasn’t counterfeit.
Movies – also magical, the closest thing to a shared dream we can possibly have. Powerful, films have the ability to debase…or to inspire.
Books I Love
Watership Down – Adventure. Myth. Loss and loyalty. And it’s all about rabbits. My favorite book in the world.
Paul Among The People – a classics professor puts the work of the early apostle into the context of the history and society of the Roman civilization, helping us see how truly radical Paul’s teachings were.
Something Wicked This Way Comes – classic Bradbury novel of a Midwestern America that may or may not have existed, but touching and stunning.
Blood of Heroes – an in depth and deeply researched recounting of the doomed last stand at the Alamo, and the birth of Texas.
My Descent Into Death and the Message Of Love That Brought Me Back – first person account of the NDE of an atheist artist who encountered real evil before having a chat with the Boss’s son. Very compelling
Fun Facts
A drama geek in high school, he surprised the heck out of everyone who knew him by signing up to be an Aviation Rescue Swimmer (at the time, the second most difficult school in the Navy).
Once was a contestant with his son on a game show hosted by Dolph Lundgren (who, in spite of being a giant and an honest-to-god lethal black belt, was a hell of a nice guy).
Was originally left-handed, got switched at age five to the other team, and has never really trusted authority since.
Loves to long distance bicycle and is planning to ride across America in the next five years.
Attended eleven different schools as a kid, and was voted second-most friendly person in his second high-school.
Fond of cooking with a Wok.