ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Joel M. Smith grew up in Independence, Oregon enjoying small town life to the fullest. By which I mean, reading a lot and avoiding getting beaten up by small town bullies with nothing better to do with their time.
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In 1985 his family moved from Independence, Oregon to Independence, Missouri. It was at this point that he was introduced to large town bullies, which inevitably led to his love of martial arts. That same year he joined a class for Jun Fan Gung Fu and rose to green belt over the next few years. Later he studied Judo, Wing Chun, Krav Maga, and in 1999 he earned the rank of Master in the art of T'ien Shan P'ai, with the Four Winds Academy of Martial Arts.
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All through this he maintained a steady diet of scifi, fantasy, mystery, and adventure. Sometime around 2000 he decided to try his hand at writing his own stories. This decision is generally agreed upon as the source of his downfall and the beginning of the era known as "It's Just Not Good Enough Yet".
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Many, many false starts and writing lessons later, he started on a project called "Adventures in Yerelin". This was eventually combined with the stories "The Wood", "The Dream Job", and "The Do Over" and became the trilogy of Kansem World. Given the author's beginnings, the first book in the trilogy "The Reaffirmation" predictably features school bullies, martial arts, and escapist fantasy. The book was met with unexpected enthusiasm and sold well over 10 copies in the first month. All four of his fans expressed excitement in reading more of the story.
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The second book, "Outsider" is now completed and available, and the third, untitled book is in process. There are many more books planned that are set in the Wood World Universe and they will all come to a earth-shattering conclusion some time in the future, around book 15.
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Joel lives in Kansas City, Missouri with his wife and two small furry children. He spends the majority of his time working from home for TouchNet Info Systems, and letting his children in and out of the door.
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