L. John Sabatino

About L John Sabatino

Back in high school, I turned in a writing assignment—just something I scribbled out without much thought—and my teacher looked me straight in the eye and said, “You should be a writer.” I didn’t listen. I took the practical route and became an engineer instead. I learned to write technical documents, plan systems, and communicate with precision. Useful? Absolutely. Fulfilling? Not so much.

The stories never stopped. They were always there, rolling around in my head like strange dreams that refused to fade. Eventually, I stopped ignoring them. I went back to school—not for designs or plans, but for characters, worlds, and the kind of writing that makes your heart race or your mind bend sideways.

 I’ve always been drawn to the unexplained: the mythic, the speculative, the uncanny. Science fiction and fantasy are my playgrounds. Not exactly your typical engineer’s toolkit, I know. But I’ve been described as “weirdly cool,” and honestly, I’ll take it.

These days, I live on the West Coast with my family—married, kids, the whole beautiful chaos. We’ve got a home perched on a hill with a view of the Olympic Mountains, which feels like the perfect backdrop for dreaming up other worlds. It’s quiet enough to write, wild enough to imagine, and grounded enough to remind me why stories matter.