Born:
St. Cloud, Minnesota, April 8, 1958
Died: TBD
Job when not writing: Graphic Artist
City of Residence: Lakewood, Colorado
Education: Not much
Marital Status: Very married, 2 kids
Nice to know: U.S. Navy veteran (1976-1984), two dogs (see above), wardrobe
in serious need of updating.
WRITINGS
*2006 INATS Awards finalist
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J. (Jeffrey) Allan Danelek
So you want to find out what kind of person you're dealing with here, do you? Okay, but remember, you asked for it.
A native of Minnesota but a resident of Colorado since 1969, my life has been a journey that has taken me down many different paths—some good and some not so good—but all of them useful in my journey. After a stint in the Navy (as a navigator and, briefly, an air traffic controller) I attended the Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design, specializing in illustration and graphic design. Since then, I have worked for a wide array of employers, from the public school system to the aerospace industry, and even worked for a couple of years laying out an international magazine for a local televangelist (who shall remain nameless to protect the guilty). Currently I reside in Lakewood, Colorado (a suburb of Denver) with my wife, Carol, and our two sons.
Besides writing, my hobbies
include—but are not necessarily limited to—art, politics and political
history (I can name all 43 presidents along with the years they were president
and what party they were, none of which has proven useful to date), world
and military history, religion and spirituality, numismatics (coin collecting)
paleontology, astronomy (and science in general) and Fortean subjects such
as Bigfoot, UFO's and things that go bump in the night. I enjoy writing both
fiction and non-fiction, much of it with decidedly spiritual, cryptozoological,
historical and/or paranormal overtones, and consider it my life's passion.
I'm ashamed to admit I didn't pursue my writing career with the prerequisite
diligence and determination until fairly recently (I like to think of it as
a progressive learning thing) with my first published feature article appearing
in the March, 2002 issue of Fate magazine. Striking up a good relationship
with Fate's parent publisher, Galde
Press, I decided to submit an entire manuscript for consideration
and in September of 2003, I was blessed with my first book, Reconsidering
Atlantis: A New Look at a Prehistoric Civilization. Since then I have
managed to get another couple of books onto the shelves: The Mystery of
Reincarnation (Llewellyn International,
May, 2005) and The Case for Ghosts (also Llewellyn International, July,
2006) with a couple more—including some fiction—in the works. I
have also recently been accepted as a member of the Authors Guild.
Perhaps the best part
of being a writer has been the opportunities it has afforded me to meet a
host of interesting people in the literary and paranormal community, among
them real life ghost-hunters, past life regression hypnotists, Wiccans, and
everything in between. It has also provided me the chance to do lots of radio
(I'm told I have the face for it); over the last three years I've repeatedly
been a guest on the x-zone with
Rob McConnell and have appeared on Darkness
Radio with Dave Schrader and Tim Dennis, Erskine
Overnight, the Lou Gentile Show,
and twice on Coast to Coast with
George Noury. I've also had the opportunity to speak at several seminars (most
recently at a paranormal conference at the haunted Stanley Hotel in Estes
Park, Colorado as well as onboard the Queen Mary in Long Beach) and am giving
a series of lectures on ghosts and reincarnation at Colorado
Free University. All-in-all, alot of fun.
My personal philosophy is that life is about learning and growing, both intellectually
and spiritually, and that is the perspective from which I approach each project
I undertake. As for writing, fame and wealth are not the goals (though they
are acceptable consolation prizes); the point of the exercise is to give others
a piece of yourself in the hopes that in your words they'll find something
that speaks to their needs, answers their questions, or even touches their
heart. To have a stranger come up to you and thank you for expanding their
awareness or giving them an answer to a question they have been pondering
is what writing is all about, and if you can happen to make a living doing
that in the process, then it's worth all the effort. At
least, that's how I see it.
BEFORE
AFTER
The wife and kids didn't want their pictures on my website, but the dogs didn't
mind. That's Wendy on the left, Kit Kat on the right.