More about RJ
An avid reader all of his life, Ray has been writing and developing historical narratives and short fiction as a hobby for years. His first collection assembled some of his most nuanced and character-developed storytelling, blending a bit of the biographical with the joys and pain of daily life. As well as writing, Ray enjoys watercolor painting, travel and most importantly time well spent with family and old friends. So, if there is a theme to his current work and the work to come, it is a reminder that there are stories to tell in every place and in every voice; that even when we sleep, our mind is writing our dreams.
Ray was born and raised in Baltimore and still lives in Maryland with his wife and two children while working professionally in the media publishing industry. He attended public schools in Baltimore city and pursued undergraduate coursework in business and communications at Howard University and the University of Maryland, but found his true passion for historical research when completing graduate studies in History at American Public University. His capstone research produced the academic paper The False Revolution: Bacon’s Rebellion and its Failure at Democracy.
Inspired by the achievement of the research project, Ray reignited his recreational writing hobby a few years ago, but primarily for his own private reading and editing pleasure. However, during the global pandemic, he decided to compile some of the short stories into an actual collection for a book which became the self-published Painfully Obvious, A Collection of Life Stories, released in in the fall of 2024. Ray is actively pursuing literary representation at this time, but in the interim, spent many weekends completing his second collection of stories: Brutally Honest. The Baltimore Stories— to be relased in Spring 2026
#Onward and Upward
