Native Texan. Surgeon. Former military. Currently living in New England. 40ish.

I've loved The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings since I read first read them at age 10, attempted to tackle Silmarillion for the first time at 12 (successfully got through it for the first time at 14), and once drove through a Category One hurricane to pick up my pre-reserved copy of one of the HoME volumes in college. The Atlas of Middle Earth seems to have found a permanent home by my bed. So, yes, you might say I'm a Tolkien geek.

I also geek out a bit on medical history, especially in three areas. Firstly, the fact that there are techniques and instruments that we think of as modern that in some cases date back thousands of years (rotational flaps going back well over 2000 years in India, attempts to repair bowel injuries being described in Ancient Rome, etc). Secondly, how advances in medicine and surgery have often come out of wars (modern nursing care from Crimea, blood banking out of WWI, repair of vascular injuries out of WWII and Korea, dialysis out of Korea, modern ventilators out of Viet Nam, etc). Thirdly, how things we think of as antique and not useful any longer really are quite useful (medical grade maggots and leeches, use of honey as a dressing material for wounds, etc).

I'm reading and writing fanfic for the love and joy of it.