Who is this guy? 

Who is A.R. Kirby? Good question. I could get all philosophical about it, but I've already got an entire section devoted to essays along those lines, so at this point I will just stick to the facts and let the readers make their own inferences. So, to get to the point:

A.R. Kirby is a writer, husband and father who bartends to pay the bills and writes for the love of it. Committed is my first novel, a work of comedic science fiction which I am publishing online in an episodic format. I also enjoy writing essays and commentary, and I am also working on a screenplay, tentatively entitled Snakebit.

I was born in Anniston, Ala., in 1966, but I grew up in the Birmingham area. After high school graduation, I attended Auburn University where I received a bachelor's degree in journalism in 1989. An internship at the Starkville Daily News in Starkville, Miss., followed, and I stayed there for a few years, eventually becoming managing editor. This is where my love of commentary and essays began. I had a weekly column in the newspaper, "Kirby's Korner", which generally consisted of comedic observations about life in small-town Mississippi. At the time, I considered the column a slightly-more-hip version of Lewis Grizzard, the late columnist famous for his writing about the South.

I moved back to Alabama in the 1990s, and worked in various marketing positions for different companies in the Birmingham area. I also discovered computers and the internet, and even worked for a short time as a producer making animations for orthodontic software.

But enough history; now is what's important. I currently live in the Birmingham area with my wife, Jean Campbell. We have four daughters (all from previous marriages), two dogs, five cats, two turtles, two lizards, two tree frogs, and a bunny. I'm not counting the baby bird because it's only being fostered until it can fly away on its own.

In my spare time, I enjoy amateur photography with an old 35 mm film SLR, camping, cooking, hanging out on our deck, and listening to Jean play her guitar.