A Northwest native, he grew up in Salem, Oregon, and graduated from Willamette University with a degree in economics. Carman then spent a decade living in Portland, where he founded and ran his own advertising agency. After selling it in 1998, he created a series of popular board games, and founded and built MyWebPal.com into the third-largest provider of online newspaper publishing in the U.S. He also launched a fourth new business, Amped Radio during the same time period that he was writing The Dark Hills Divide.