Biography

S. K. Vaughn (Stephen) was born on December 8, 1955, in Crane, Texas. According to his parents, right from the start he had a challenge to face. There was a bad flu going around at the time, and many infants died from it. He was in the hospital for many days, and they almost lost him. But he survived and soon thrived in the loving care of his family.

From an early age, Stephen had a vivid imagination. Sometimes to his detriment. The line between the truth and a lie blurred many times, but eventually he learned that lies have consequences. However, frequently his imagination would take him to the wild west, the battle fields of World War II and the wilds of the world away from normal life.

The most important thing in his early life was sports, specifically football. He felt he was born to play football. His father told him he was in the three-point stance before he could walk. Unfortunately, his genetics didn’t get the message because he was fifty pounds too light and six inches too short to even play college football. His size didn’t deter him, and he was a successful high school football player until his senior year, when he discovered something more appealing. Money. He had started working for a popular young man’s clothing store and was promoted to the position of manager before he was nineteen years old. The benefits of a good salary, nice clothes and being the boss outweighed the appeal of football, and he decided to not play his senior year. This decision may have saved him from being badly injured, since he is the only person he knows who played high school football during the early 1970’s who can still run.

When his was six, his family moved from Odessa, Texas to Albuquerque, New Mexico. The few years he lived there played an important roll in his awareness of the beauty and mystery of the southwest. Many locations in his stories found inspiration in the areas around Santa Fe, New Mexico.

A few years later, the family moved to Colton, California. His father, James Frank Vaughn had finished his education degree at the University of New Mexico, while serving as the Assistant Pastor at a Methodist Church.

Stephen didn’t take to reading right away. In fact, he struggled, but with the help of his parents and a summer of reading Dr. Suess books, even when he would rather be out in playing in the neighborhood, he learned to read. He was successful in school not because he was a great student and wanted to learn school things but because he wanted to be the best. He wanted to win. Then one day in fourth grade that all changed. He had gone with his class to the school library, like they did every week, but this time he found a book about Cochise. This book became the first book he read just because he wanted to, not because he had to. Though there weren’t many other books read just for fun until high school because he was busy playing every sport he could, his love for good stories grew.

His sophomore year in high school was transformational as well. He decided to be an actor. He had been acting his entire life, pretending to be warriors, cowboys, Indians, scuba divers and various other exciting characters. In this class was the friend that would change his view of books and their importance in his life. This friend, Bruce Long, showed him the wonder of fantasy and science fiction. It all started with The Hobbit. After that, Stephen read every fantasy and science fiction book he could get his hands on, and their friendship revolved around the world of Tolkien and C. S. Lewis. Bruce was a talented storyteller and poet, and he challenged Stephen to write. It was then, Stephen began writing the story that eventually became Weaver’s Revenge.

In his second year of college, Stephen met Chuck Richards, who would also have an important impact on Stephen’s life. Chuck is a larger than life, modern-day mountain man. Chuck was teaching the mountaineering class for Allen Hancock College in Santa Maria that Stephen decided to take. From the start, they hit it off, and Stephen spent the next two years learning to rock climb, mountaineer, backpack, guide river rafts and wilderness ski from this true friend. These experiences have made their way into many events in his stories.

Stephen eventually followed in his father’s footsteps and became a successful educator for 37 years. At the beginning of his teaching career, he met his wife, Janet. She says he never dated her; he just never went away. It was the smartest decision he ever made. With Janet’s support and love, they adopted and raised four outstanding children, who have grown up to be true heroes, kind and caring people, and great brothers and sisters.

To be sure he didn’t fail at retirement like many of his older colleagues, Stephen developed a plan to have plenty of things to do to keep him occupied. The first choice was to write novels. Within the first year of his retirement, he published his first book, Time Runners. Another choice was leather working. He had always loved leather and, he had done a few simple projects over the years, so it was a natural choice. Leather work became the dominant pastime and soon he was a successful leathercrafter making ornate hand-tooled items for people all across the world. His love of craftmanship plays a important role in many of his characters.

He currently lives in the beautiful high plains of northern Arizona, with his wife, Janet, their four dogs, one cat and Janet’s collection of birds and reptiles.