Justin was born in Boise, Idaho in 1974. He graduated from Boise State University with a degree in philosophy, was named one of the school’s Top Ten Scholars, and invited to present the valedictory address at the commencement of the College of Arts and Sciences. Soon after, Justin moved to New York City, where he enrolled in Columbia University’s Writing Program, specializing in fiction and sincerely hoping to become the next Jack Kerouac. While at Columbia he wrote what he has later come to call his ‘Barbarian Story,’ and turned it in for judging by his workshop class. He expected to weather a fearsome barrage of scorn, and was happily surprised at how well they took it.

While working on that story, Justin was first introduced to Uruk, a prehistoric hunter from the jungles of sub-Saharan Africa, and the hero of his first novel, SLAVES OF THE SHINAR. It took him fully six more years, umpteen rough drafts, buckets of tears and torrents of blood, to finish the novel and get it placed with The Overlook Press. During that time he also met and married his true-love, Day Mitchell, traveled with her to Tahiti, New Zealand, Kenya, Belize, Nicaragua, and a myriad of other, equally wonderful locales, and began work on two new novels, THE AMERICAN and TOMMOROWLAND, and a book of travel essays about the American National Parks.