I’m the author of two books on the history of animation and the work of the Disney Studios: Three Years in Wonderland and The Life and Times of Ward Kimball. In addition to my non-fiction, I'm  the author of the novel, The Australia Stories and the story collection, Newsworld, which won the Drue Heinz Literature Prize and was a finalist for the John Gardner Book Award and the Paterson Prize.  My work has been published in Fiction, The Georgia Review, Harvard Review, The Gettysburg Review, Indiana Review, The Iowa Review, The Missouri Review, North American Review, Shenandoah, The Sun, Virginia Quarterly Review, and Willow Springs.  I live in a little town called Orcutt (just north of Santa Barbara, California) and co-direct the Creative Writing program at Cal Poly University.  Lastly I'm the host of the DHI podcast, a monthly show focused on the history of animation and theme park development.