About

All of us are ultimately defined by the events in our lives, m.e. Elzey is no exception. The first defining experience in his life was contracting Bulbar Polio when eighteen months old. His second experience was being raised in Gilbert, Arizona, during the fifties and sixties. It was an idyllic Southwest community of mid-twentieth century American. The surreal short stories take root in his childhood home of Gilbert. The population in the mid 60s was around 1800 people, including those who lived outside the city limits. The spirit of the little town and the people who called Gilbert home come, alive in his collection of short stories. Fiction is a story made up from lies to reveal the truth.

The third most influential event started, by chance, in the seventh grade. He borrowed (swiped) his older brother Ken’s library book. It was J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye; he read it cover to cover. What stirred his interest was a conversation he overheard between his brother and mother as they discussed the use of the “F” word in the book. It was also the book that sparked his love of reading and storytelling. He was already an established storyteller, just as any of his childhood friends and classmates. Because of reading Catcher in the Rye, he read and eventually admired the skill of writers like Wallace Stegner, Norman Maclean, John Steinbeck and Dee Brown. He developed a love for the contemporary history of the American West.

While in college he developed a keen interest in the American politics and the counterculture of the late 1960s. At the request of several like-minded people, he began ghost writing political essays that highlighted the inequities of the times.

As with everyone, the realities of life took center stage. In 1972 he went to work for Motorola Semiconductor in Phoenix, where he worked for the next thirty-three years. In the early 1990s, his job required that he travel extensively. The traveling rekindled his love of writing, especially his interest in fiction.

His wife Jeannie of 47 years (AKA Juanita Perez, a Gilbert girl), live in Marana, Arizona, a northwestern suburb of Tucson. She’s also his best friend, his squeeze, doubles as his editor, his most ardent fan and his most vocal critique.