Short Bio-
Ben Farrell is an independent author, Dean and dad currently living in Southern California. When he's not busy getting punked by high school boys, or having light saber duels with his three year old daughter, you can likely find him listening to The Lord of the Rings soundtrack, and writing parts two and three of "The Guardians of the Unseen" trilogy. "The Unseen," is his first novel.
Longer more fun Bio-
At some point, not too long ago, I realized that much of my morality comes from my father reading Tolkien to my sister and I as we went to bed each night. Before I get too far into this bio, you should know that if your village is being threatened by Orcs, you have my sword.
I'm a writer, dreamer, Dean and a Dad. Also I'm a geek, can't forget the important things, right? Writing, exploring and the unknown have been passions throughout my life. With my debut novel THE UNSEEN, I've finally found a way to connect my interests and nerdy sci-fi pursuits.
Growing up in a small town in Western Massachusetts, I always dreamed of traveling, exploring...of going and doing. I accomplished this through steadfastly burying my nose in all the books, pouring over maps and globes, and trying to find ways to get enough money together to buy a glorious full set of encyclopedias. I found refuge in the cool stacks of the town library, I perfected my Dewey decimal system abilities through searching out anything relating to the paranormal. By twelve I had a pretty firm grasp of all the potential nuances regarding the Philadelphia Experiment, Roswell, Shag Harbor, Mokele-mbembe, Nessie, Champy, the Yeti (and all the sub-varieties around the world) and thoroughly freaked myself out with the Hopkinsville encounter. I can say with a significant amount of certainty that I was the only three sport athlete organizing UFO hunts on a semi-regular basis in the greater Franklin County area from 1995-1997. Mix all that in with a steady diet of X-Files, Mystery Science Theater 3000, TNG and New England sports, and you should get a pretty good sense of who you're dealing with.
As I hit my mid twenties and found a job that would pay me to travel and study around the world, that sense of exploration fostered on hot summer days sitting on cool marble floors, exploded into something that has pushed, pulled and challenged me since. I've been lucky enough to meet wonderful people from all over the world who've shown me that when situations are the worst, humans are often at our best. Our common language of courage, laughter and hope for the future, connects us much more than it divides.
I've tried to echo that in THE UNSEEN. My characters have become my friends, confidants, more interesting versions of myself and, at times, guideposts. You know you've punched your writer's card when you stop and wonder how a twelve year old kid you dreamed up would respond to a real life situation you're actually going through. Was that weird? That might have been weird.
I currently live in California with my wicked amazing wife and our two hilarious kids.