Happy Birthday: Keith R.A. DeCandido
Born in New York’s the Bronx in 1969, Keith R.A. DeCandido was a science-fiction fan from the very start—his parents were fans of the original Star Trek, as well as classic SF/Fantasy novelists like Heinlein, Le Guin, and Tolkien.
DeCandido attended Fordham University and edited the college newspaper, and after graduating he worked for several New York publishing houses.
In 1990, he and John Drew created the public-access SF TV show The Chronic Rift, which DeCandido also co-hosted. In the late ’90s, DeCandido worked for Byron Preiss, editing anthologies and novels, and began writing stories for Preiss as well.
DeCandido’s first novel, Spider-Man: Venom’s Wrath (written with Jose R. Nieto) was published in 1998. In 1999 DeCandido got the opportunity to write for the Star Trek franchise, authoring the four-issue comic book miniseries Star Trek: The Next Generation: Perchance to Dream. Since then he has written over a dozen Star Trek novels and over a dozen novels for other licenses.
Keith's also my neighbor (well, he lives about a mile away), and I caught up with him yesterday outside the ComicMix office and quickly whisked him away for a birthday iced-coffee at Starbucks. :)