Jeffery Rogers

Jeffery Rogers was born in Newell, West Virginia, in 1973. He attended Oak Glen High School, where he earned early recognition for his writing, namely, the 1991 NCTE Achievements in Writing Award for his short story, Bad Luck. Ever since then, Jeffery has made crime fiction his preferred genre, even when his fiction breaks every rule expected.

"I've been into the outlaw ideal ever since I was a kid," Jeffery writes. "It was either Han Solo in Star Wars, or my stepdad and his penchant for ZZ Top, Willie and Waylon's Outlaws, or Johnny Cash. Regardless, I've been fascinated with stories about people existing outside of the system because the system has failed."

He credits a wide variety of authors for his inspiration and influence. "Faulkner, King, Palahniuk, [Henry]Rollins, [Henry] Miller, and pretty much all of the true Beat poets," he jokes. "Mainstream literature only goes so far with me. I like the guys who get banned from the public library. They're the ones telling the truth than no one wants to acknolwedge."

Jeffery formed Arclight Omnimedia in 1998 so he could get a business rate for his early chapbooks. "When I got all the dumb s**t about college out of my system, I re-entered writing with spoken word pieces and poems. I wrote angry, political stuff back then because, well, my experience taught me just how broken America had become," he writes. "I was managing for K-mart, which had zero to do with my degree, and my bachelor's degree only reinforced my earnest belief that our government simply doesn't care about anyone making less than $100K a year."

He still publishes his novels independently, although Jeffery might accidentally find himself as a part of the mainstream he's grown to loathe. "Right now, I have 17 different producers looking at Adam's Apple for a film or series option, and I've already seen considerable interest in my next novel [Told You So] from major publishers."

Jeffery will finish his MBA in Human Resources by Christmas, 2006. "I'll keep grinding away at finding a major outlet who wants my work. However, there's enough starving artists in the world. I'd like to think I can hold down a day career that covers my expenses without blocking my writing demands. With my MBA, maybe I can get into an organization where I can make sure senior executives treat the source of their wealth, their employees, in the best manner possible."