The One Paragraph Bio
Richard Flores IV is a writer and publisher living in the Pacific Northwest with his wife and three boys. He is the author of several novels and numerous short stories. He is also the publisher and lead editor for Factor Four Magazine. Richard is an advocate for the unique craft of writing flash fiction, which he believes deserves its own award categories in all awards. While he would like to think he fits his life around writing, its often the opposite. You can find Richard watching Hockey, playing video games, and reading.
The Path to Author
Born and raised in Vacaville, California, Richard Flores IV grew up surrounded by avid readers. His mother and father were both avid readers as well as an Aunt who lived with them. His earliest thought of being a writer, at least that he remembers, was seeing all his father’s fantasy and science fiction books and thinking of all the worlds within those pages, and a fleeting thought crossed his mind, what if I created a world in the pages of books.
In middle school and part of high school, he started to develop a distaste in reading. Mandatory assigned reading lists, with required essays over analyzing the author’s intent behind the most obscure details, caused him to just lose interest. That changed when he was assigned Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. He fell in love with reading again and felt the inspiration to write. More than a passing thought, Richard wrote a short story that was praised by his class and began work on a novel. It is unlikely either of those will ever be found again, lost to time.
Richard went straight to work right out of high school and earning a pay check to pay his bills became more pressing than writing. And again, the thoughts of being an author slipped to the back of his mind. Instead he focused on building a career, from aspiring architect, to studying criminal justice, Richard changed career paths a few times.
Those paths lead him to meeting his wife in 2001. Love at first sight was not just a work of fiction, and they were engaged within months of dating. And in 2004, they wed.
Around this time, Richard had the idea for a novel. A space opera that spawned form the idea, what if we no longer had war on Earth, where could the human race progress? Could we really never have war again? This idea turned into the thought of some characters and a world they could play in. And he started spending late nights sitting in bed on a laptop writing furiously. He managed to finish the draft for one novel, and partial second one. Spoiler alert, those were not lost to time.
Life has a way of sneaking back up again. And he had his first child. With that the writing paused again. And the next thing he knew he had three children the youngest a toddler. And in the eyes of his children he also saw world and it inspired him to take those drafts from six years prior and turn them into something.
Richard read as many writing self help books as he could find. Joined several writers groups and started with couple of short stories. In 2011, he sold his first short story. That was when he made his writing website, joined Twitter, and officially called himself an author. He took that six year old manuscript and wrote it in its entirety. And in 2012 it was published as his debut novel, Dissolution of Peace.
Also in 2012, he started his first magazine, Plasma Frequency, which published short stories form authors around the world. He was proud to offer a semi-pro rate for top quality speculative fiction. And while Plasma Frequency published different lengths of short fiction, Richard found he really loved flash fiction with the small 1,000 word limit. For reasons beyond his control, the publication closed down in 2016.
In 2013, Richard released Volition Agent, a short novel. This was followed by Broken Trust in 2014, a novel in which Richard dug deep into some of his own demons and fears. In 2017, he finally released the sequel to Dissolution of Peace, titled Illusion of Victory.
In 2018, he opened Factor Four Magazine, a publication dedicated to putting the best in speculative flash fiction out to readers all over the world. With the professional rates paid, and the quality stories submitted, Factor Four Magazine remains a premiere place to read high quality flash fiction.
It should be noted that life still gets in the way, and he continues to find moments of stopping and starting work on his writings, but he no longer wonders if he is a writer, he knows he is an author. And when he can, he writes. But unlike his younger years, his passion for the craft does not move to the back burner. He often considers himself an author first, despite still work a day job.
A little more about Richard
When he is not reading or writing, Richard enjoys watching movies. He is a huge San Jose Sharks fan and spends most of the hockey season in front of the TV. He also enjoys hiking in one of the many Washington State Parks near his home. He also has a love for video games, especially Lara Croft and the Tomb Raider franchise. He has slowly grown a collection of Tomb Raider memorabilia, collectables, books, comics, and more. If it features Lara Croft, he wants it (but he doesn’t always get it).
He enjoys attending conventions, something he has been slow to get back into since the pandemic. When there, you can usually find him at the art show adding to his collection of Sci-Fi and Fantasy artwork. Richard’s favorite artist is John Picacio. Aside from the art show, Richard enjoys speaking on panels and connecting with others in the fandom. Someday he hopes to win a Hugo, but that seems highly unlikely. You can find his upcoming appearances here: Link
In 2021, Richard took on the endeavor of live streaming on Twitch. The channel is dedicated to combining his love of video games, writing, publishing, and socializing with fandom. He uses any revenue earned there for all his publishing efforts.
Richard welcomes contact from his fans in a variety of ways including social media, email, and blog comments.
AWARDS:
2020: Critters Readers’ Poll – Top 10 SF& F Short Story for “Diana’s Homework”
2014: Preditors and Editors Reader’s Poll – Top 10 Fiction Magazine/e-zine for Plasma Frequency
2014: Preditors and Editors Reader’s Poll – Top 10 Fiction Magazine/e-zine Editor
2013: Preditors and Editors Reader’s Poll – Top 10 Fiction Magazine/e-zine for Plasma Frequency
2013: Orangeberry Book Tours Hall of Fame Finalist for Dissolution of Peace
2012: Preditors and Editors Reader’s Poll – Top 10 SF&F Novel for Dissolution of Peace
2011: Preditors and Editors Reader’s Poll – Top 10 SF&F Short Story for “Death Watch”