About Me

My name is Brian Long and I self-publish my own fantasy novels in the hopes of creating unique stories that take people on exciting adventures and allow them to visit fascinating places they had never been before. I have lived a very unique life in that I have been able to experience so many different extremes that I felt I could share a lot of that experience through storytelling. I grew up in the dry high-deserts of southern California but spent much of my time at a beach or nearby. I was raised in a devoutly protestant home, but turned from religion in my late teens following my dissatisfaction with trying to make sense of my religion when put in contrast with human history and natural science. I would also spend a lot of my time couch surfing in the homes of people that had much more financially than my family did, and with much more functional family units than my family could provide. Similarly I was somebody gifted with athletic ability, but preferred my time learning and getting lost in imagination. And, while I prefer to be as calm and stoic at all times as I can muster, I have a tendency to lose my temper or act on impulsive whims despite my best efforts.

I try to have these contrasts and contradictions come through my characters or my scenes within my stories and I enjoy exploring the vast differences that people have in many aspects of their lives, while simultaneously having so much in common with each other. I have shared the humblest campfires in dry empty deserts with some of the best storytellers I have ever met. I have also sat in the grandest theaters and witnessed dramatized stories that told equally grand tales. Both experiences were outstanding in the quality of the stories they told, and yet they came from completely different sources and were told in completely different ways by completely different people. I feel this accurately reflects what life is. It is humans telling our stories and listening to others that wish to tell them. Whether it’s for work, inspiration, learning lessons, comedy, to connect, or any other of the plethora of things that storytelling can do for us, storytelling is everything to me and I can’t wait to share as many stories as I can before I am gone.