C. W. Klein

Original Artwork: Artist Christopher Klein

In 1974 I was riding a train with my father, Harry William Klein. I was bored and staring out the window, minding my own business. I was 11 years old. My father controlled everything that I said, did and mostly ... read... with an iron hand. He could not have his "boy" corrupted by the world. But what he did not notice, is that by giving me the window seat, he would open me to a world that I had not yet even dreamed could exist. There in the crack between the seat and the train wall, was a book. A precious book, one not given to me by Harry that told stories about how bad little children were punished by an unforgiving god or eaten by monsters for disobeying unreasonable parents.

Dad spotted a blonde. Pretty hair, too much makeup and legs that went on forever. Just his type. He went into predator mode, which means that until he was accepted or rejected, I no longer existed. While the great hunter stalked his prey, I went into action. I grabbed the book, without even a glance at the title, and stuffed it into my bag. The predator was quickly rejected and we soon arrived at our destination. Homeward bound and sent to my room, mostly because of his failure with the blonde. When he could not cheat on his wife, my stepmother, it put him in a very bad mood.

With great anticipation, I opened my bag and pulled out the tome. It was well read, and even though only a few months old, already had that old book smell. I could see the beginnings of mold near the corner. Probably carried in the rain more than once. My treasure, my secret and my beginning. I opened to the first page of "Carrie" by the master of horror, Stephen King and began a journey that would take a lifetime. I am very happy that King was my first, because he set the tone for my future love of Horror, Sci-Fi and Fantasy in both the reading...and the writing.

Today and Tomorrow

PhotoCredit: Christopher Klein

After my introduction to the works of Stephen King, I ventured into other authors, and then into other areas of interest. Science Fiction and Fantasy became my playground and then, at 15 years old in 1980, I ran away from home...and made it. This was my exodus from a very bad situation under the controlling hand of a monster and his wife. In retrospect, my young life had been filled with more horror than most of the books that I had become addicted to. But I was too stupid, or naive at the time to realize it. On a cold September morning, the eve of my 15th birthday, I set out to escape the world I had come to loath and fear. But that is a story that you will find on this web site, and well worth the read.

With my newly found freedom, I began a journey of life and a love of the written word. I penned my first story, "The 13th Witch", as yet unpublished. And over the next four decades, ideas flowed from me like water from a tap. Fear of failure has kept most of these stories in small journals and eventually computer files. In 2009, I dared to self publish some of my poetry. It is VERY bad - and I love it all. If you are brave, and like really bad poetry based on the fears and accomplishments of a child exploring the self, you can get a copy from Barnes and Nobel ( Ancient Steel Flames ) . Or if you just love what you see here and would like a signed copy, you can contact me directly and I will arrange for a pay pal purchase .. with a handling fee of course - I do have to eat. Finally, if you want to do an end run around spending any money, the individual poems and works are available on Ancient Pathway.

The future is a lot more fun. I have gathered my stories and they are being completed, updated and fleshed out. Two shorts have come online at the end of 2018 and they have been converted into audio format. The first story, "Hello Pretty", read by the magnificent Miss Rebecca Love, is horror. And "The Christmas Tree", read by the author (that is me), is a Holiday Tear jerker. These are both available for free under the author menu. A taste of things to come. I now work in Horror, of course, and Science Fiction / Fantasy. Plus, just to irk off my friends, I have done a few articles on politics. Of course, now-days, that is very close to Horror or Fantasy. But what can you do?