I effectively got my start as a writer penning what the kids today would call "fan-fic" but of course this was before the age of the Internet.  I filled reams of paper with my own juvenile Indiana Jones adventures, and when Bantam started publishing an authorized mass-market series, I made it my goal in life to be a part of that.  I had no idea how the publishing industry worked, much less how tight the control on licensed characters would be, but I set to work outlining my own IJ adventures.  Later, when I figured out how the world really works, I was faced with a choice of tossing those ideas in the round file, or retooling them into something original.  I wanted a hero that could move easily in the world of antiquities--antiquities with perhaps extraordinary endowments--but at the same time I knew that I couldn't simply reproduce the Indy character with a different name."

And the supernatural plays a large part in Ellis's work.  "I think I'm as curious as the next person about the BIG questions of Life, the Universe and Everything.  I'm generally pretty skeptical, but I enjoy the metaphysical world for its entertainment value.  As a writer, I'm probably guilty of using supernatural elements as a reliable deus ex machina, pulling my hero's fat out of the fire when all other options have been exhausted. For Shroud and the Kismet series, my take on the metaphysical issues will be much more epic in scope. For Shroud I thought I'd challenge a few of those treasured ideas about theology by having a pair of admitted agnostics--Kismet and his mentor, Pierre Chiron--embark on a quest to find literal evidence of God's existence in the ruins of Babylon.  What ultimately emerges is, I suppose, reflective of my own ideas about a possible explanation for things like psychic phenomena, but I don't mean to offer my version of "truth" as any sort alternative to the beliefs of the readers.  My ambition with the Nick Kismet series is to deliver non-stop action and just a hint of the supernatural.  In other words, Indiana Jones.  Mr. Lucas, if you're reading this...."

Contributing editor Mark Combes is an avid sailor and Scuba diver and travels extensively in the Caribbean pursuing his passions. He works in book publishing and RUNNING WRECKED is his first novel.