hris started writing a long time ago. He and his brothers used to put on skits and puppet shows in the basement of their home in Buffalo, New York. Their mom and dad were the only paying customers. Admission was a nickel. Doing a Junior High School play about ghosts! When he was ten, Chris moved to Signal Mountain Tennessee and had some great teachers in Junior High School and at Chattanooga's Notre Dame High School who told him he would "make a living as a writer one day." Want to see a sample of Chris' eighth grade composition book from forty years ago? Click here. In high school, Chris (on the left) had hair longer than the mop's He studied journalism and theater at college and then moved to New York City with six suitcases, a typewriter, and very little money. For five years, he performed and won awards with some of the city's top Improvisational Comedy troupes, making up scenes and songs on the spot in front of live audiences, just like they did on "Whose Line Is It Anyway?" Doing Improv with his funny, funny friend Tom Carrozza A young actor named Bruce Willis was also in Chris' comedy group, but nobody knows what happened to him. From time to time, Robin Williams would drop by to perform with Chris and his comedy gang. When not writing scripts for his friends to perform in the small Greenwich village theatre (which was actually another basement) Chris also wrote for Jim Henson's Muppets. In 1986, he and his college buddy Ronny Venable wrote a TV movie for CBS called The Christmas Gift. It starred John Denver and can still be seen almost every year during the holidays, usually on the Hallmark Channel. Chris also spent close to twenty years writing radio and television commercials for Burger King, Seven Up, Kentucky Fried Chicken, Dr Pepper, and many, many others. He won the 2006 Anthony Award for best first mystery for his first adult mystery TILT A WHIRL. The other books in that mystery series have received all sorts of critical praise are called MAD MOUSE, WHACK A MOLE, and HELL HOLE. Apparently, Chris spends far too much time riding rides at amusement parks. Here's a tip he learned the hard way: never eat six hot dogs prior to climbing aboard a roller coaster. He's also written some pretty scary thrillers: SLAY RIDE and HELL FOR THE HOLIDAYS. He's already working on the next Zack Jennings book, a sequel to THE CROSSROADS that might be called THE HANGING HILL. It's another spooky ghost story and takes place in a haunted old theatre called, you guessed it, The Hanging Hill Playhouse! Yes, Chris is always writing! This morning, he wrote a grocery list, a note to his wife, JJ, and a letter to Santa Claus. It's never too early. Here's what his office looks like when a book is under construction. Currently, Chris and his beautiful, beloved wife JJ live in New York City with three cats (Jeanette, Parker, and Tiger Lilly) and a dog named Fred who starred in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang on Broadway. To learn more about FRED, click here!