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My name is Paul Lell. I am thirty two years old and I grew up in and around Arvada, Colorado (excepting a two year stint in Kansas because of my father's work). I attended Arvada West High School, graduating in 1992. In 1994 I moved to Pueblo, Colorado where I spent five years attending the educational institute formerly known as the University of Southern Colorado. I started off as an engineering major (leaning toward civil engineering) until one day in the middle of an advanced trigonometry class I had a sudden epiphany: I no longer enjoyed doing math. Don't get me wrong, I love numbers and I loved algebra and geometry, even right triangle trig was fun, but when they started taking all of the numbers out of the equations, I began to loose interest.
So I moved on to my next passion, art. Specifically computer animation and 3D modeling. I stayed in the art department until I left the University in 1999 and joined the work force back in Denver, Colorado. Counting a few years in Pueblo, I have now worked for Comcast (one of the major US cable TV operators) for ten years. Currently I am a technical trainer, teaching technicians how to install and service high speed internet, home networks and VoIP phone services.
I am the father of two wonderful boys, currently ages 5 and 7, and we make our home in Westminster, Colorado with my wonderful wife who serves innumerable side duties as mother, wife, editor, artist, financial consultant, and a myriad of other tasks that I may never know.
I write every chance I get. At lunch while at the office, in the mornings before anyone else gets up, late at night after everyone else has gone to bed, you name it. 'The First Key of Kalijor' took me just over a year to write and its initial heavy editing was done by my wife who holds multiple bachelor's degrees (In English and CIS). 'The Second Key of Kalijor' took just under a year to write (about ten months I think) and is currently on the pad awaiting editing by the same wonderful person. I am currently writing 'The Third Key of Kalijor' as I continue the search for a literary agent to help me get my manuscripts in front of some publishers.
My interests range all over, with focus on Science Fiction and Fantasy subject matter. I love taking in a movie on the couch or in the theater. I read whenever possible and whatever I can get hold of when the time avails itself. I have played pen and paper role playing games since I was in grade school, usually as the DM/GM of the campaigns, except when Tyler took the helm (thanks for the breaks Ty! I really miss playing sometimes!). I think that is probably what helped develop my interest in story telling. I play video games on any platform I can get my hands on, mostly adventure and RPG fare, but I like a good beat'em up or driver as well. My family and I study Tae Kwon Do at a local dojo with an excellent teacher who makes several appearances throughout my stories in various guises, and who, along with the owners of the school, have really helped me get the lead out in making strides toward publication.
Kalijor is the product of a lot of dreaming, a lot of hard work, and a lot of fun times. I conceived the world of Kalijor after nearly ten years of role playing with my friends through school. I loved the games we played but I quickly grew tired of trying to fit my own ideas inside the framework of the world settings that the source books offered. That and I wanted to have a better reason to tell my friends that they couldn't play that uber evil-smashing mega knight deluxe character, and setting them in my own world with specifically allowable character types seemed the best way to go and make everyone fall in with a minimum of fuss.
So Kalijor was born. Only not as Kalijor. Initially, and for a number of years I called it Jade. Kalijor was actually the name of a magical weapon found by the players in the world of Jade. Well as I began to flesh out the world and it started taking on a life of its own, I began to think about the possibility of some form of publication and the name Jade is used quite a bit by other folks in the fantasy realm. I wanted, no NEEDED a name for my world that was really unique and sounded cool at the same time. So I upgraded the magical weapon to an entire world (heck of a promotion if I do say so myself).
From that point it just sort of took off on its own. New characters were created, the local governments and politics began to take shape and before I knew it I was pounding away at the keyboard daily (or almost daily) until I eventually found myself here, building this site to support, and promote the novels, the WORLD of Kalijor!
This web site was born of two very different needs. The first was to get the information about the book, sales, author and so forth out to you the people. Thus the primary page and associated links (this page included). The second need was to get out as much information about Kalijor as I possibly can. Kalijor is HUGE. MUCH larger than my novels will likely ever be able to encompass. As such I wanted you all to have as much information as you wanted about that huge world, things that aren't seen in the books (yet), and may never be. If you want to know the politics of Rathalon, that information is here for you. If you have no desire to know these things, don't feel bad, not everyone does.
Just to be clear here. My intention for the world of Kalijor is not to dominate it. Not to control it and dictate what happens within it. My intention here is to lay bare all of the gritty details of the world and its inner workings so that you all have all of the information you need to understand how things happen in Kalijor. Once you have that understanding (even if it is just a basic understanding) then it is my fervent hope that you run with it. Tell your own stories. Play your own games. Dream your own dreams! I will likely never stop writing about Kalijor. And while I fervently hope that you all will continue reading my stories, I also hope that you will be in some way inspired to go out and create your own, whether in my world or your own!
So come along! Enter my world! Stay as long as you like. Contribute if you see fit to do so. Or just sit back and watch!
