Trace is a Chicago-area writer, specializing in Civil War fiction. In 2000, his debut novel, Sins of the Father, won Word Weaving's first-ever "Award For Literary Excellence," and it was nominated for an EPPIE Award in the Best Historical Fiction category. Moreover, his stories "Blood Brothers" and "The Collections Of Bethlehem" have...more »

Trace is a Chicago-area writer, specializing in Civil War fiction. In 2000, his debut novel, Sins of the Father, won Word Weaving's first-ever "Award For Literary Excellence," and it was nominated for an EPPIE Award in the Best Historical Fiction category. Moreover, his stories "Blood Brothers" and "The Collections Of Bethlehem" have garnered several awards and appeared in a Historical Anthology Twilight Antiquity. Another of his stories, "Esprit De Corps, appeared as part of the award-winning Tales of the Spirit of Hope, Love, and Redemption charitable anthology.

Additionally, Trace moderates several writers' critique groups, was a featured author at Barnes & Noble's Writers' Harvest 1997, and was the owner/editor of the award-winning Of Ages Past Magazine (although defunct, all past issues are still online).

On the side—and much to the surprise of those who know him only by his prose—Trace is a rock 'n' roller, an accomplished vocalist and keyboard player. During his lengthy musical career as a recording artist and songwriter, and as a member of more than two dozen bands, he toured as a support act for world-renowned groups such as Judas Priest, Heart, and Jefferson Starship, and even played the challenging lead role in Jesus Christ Superstar. Aside from his own studio work, Trace's voice can also be heard on various albums, where he performed as a guest background vocalist, as well as on television ads, including Pizza Hut, when he worked as a jingle singer for several advertising agencies. Most recently, in 2002, Trace signed his fifth recording contract, this time as the lead vocalist with DSG (The Dave Shankle Group—"Dave Shankle" is the former award-winning guitarist and Guiness Book Of World Records guitarist with heavy-metal legends, Manowar). The first DSG album, Ashes To Ashes, is available for purchase at the band's website, as well as other outlets such as I-Tunes and Amazon. (Update: Due to his work with Amber Quill Press and as a cover artist, Trace has recently made the difficult decision to leave the band and put his side contract as a solo recording artist on hold.)

And if that wasn't enough, Trace is also the owner of By Thunder, which includes several authoring services—Thundergraph: Web Design, Graphics, & Webmastering; ThunderProse: Professional Editing Services; and ThunderArt, the division of By Thunder that creates award-winning cover art for both e-books and paperbacks. Currently, Trace is also the Editorial Director and Creative Director for Amber Quill Press. His cover art won the Spectrum Award for "Best Overall Cover Art 2001," and the 2004 Quasar Award for "Best In Category—Suspense/Thriller" and twice in 2005 for both "Best In Category—Horror" and "Best In Category—Mainstream" and, again, twice in 2007! In March 2007, he walked away with his second Quasar trophy for "Best Overall Cover Art." He consistently places in the Top 10 in various author/reader polls for both "Best Cover Artist" and for specific book covers. « less