short bios for media

100 words

Brian D. Hinson abandoned an unfulfilling corporate career in 1999 to take up part-time work and visit forty-five countries in the backpacker fashion. He slowed life even further to settle in rural New Mexico, USA with his wife and three pit bulls to write science fiction. Short story “Disposable Gabriel,” in December 2023 Cast of Wonders, made Nerds of a Feather’s longlist for the 2024 Hugo. Two short stories are featured in Amazing Stories’ Best of 2024 and 2025. He has published nearly thirty short stories in various spec fic magazines. SKIES OF FIRE AND SMOKE is his debut novel.

300 words

Twenty-eight of Brian D. Hinson’s short stories can be found in twenty-three different professional speculative fiction outlets, such as Pseudopod, Andromeda Spaceways, On Spec Magazine, Shoreline of Infinity, ParSec, and more. His short, “Disposable Gabriel” made Nerds of a Feather’s 2024 longlist for the Hugo and Marie Haskin’s December 2023 list of best stories. Short story “Distance and Family and Death” is featured in The Best of Amazing Stories 2024. “Perihelion and Retrograde” is in The Best of Amazing Stories 2025.

In 2019 he attended the Taos Toolbox writers’ workshop under the tutelage of Nancy Kress and Walter Jon Williams. He graduated from the University of Michigan in 1992 with a bachelor’s in English and philosophy. While a student, he was editor-in-chief of the literary arts magazine, Lyceum.

By 1999, he grew disillusioned with the corporate life and never returned to an office. He took up a variety of part-time jobs which allowed him to visit forty-five countries in the backpacker fashion. Moving from Detroit to New Mexico in 2004, he became entranced with the landscape and culture of the Southwest. No longer enjoying the city life of Albuquerque, In 2016 he settled in deep rural Mountainair, New Mexico with wife Kathleen Eickholt and three pit bulls.

It was here, late in life at the age of forty-seven, Hinson began writing science fiction and fantasy in earnest, suffering 131 rejections on the short story market before landing his first acceptance. Welcomed into the critique group of successful New Mexico speculative fiction authors, Turquoise Apocalypse, he honed his skills. SKIES OF FIRE AND SMOKE is his debut novel from Inkd Publishing, scheduled for release April 24, 2026.

Writing aside for a moment, here’s several pursuits I enjoyed: traveling, piloting a small aircraft, snowboarding, and mountain biking. Honestly, I started writing as our income took a nosedive (back and shoulder joint pain also figured in) and other pursuits became relegated to the past.

real bio

A man with long blonde hair smiling and standing next to a small white aircraft on an airport tarmac.

travel

I set out backpacker style. It’s a lot cheaper, and to me, infinitely more rewarding. Street food, traversing on public busses, bunking in mom-and-pop pensions, hostels, and hotels. Sometimes I would hook up with an adventure outfit that facilitates transport and arranges mountain treks. I’ve set foot in forty-five different nations, including Bolivia, Colombia, Nicaragua, Honduras, Rwanda, Mali, Senegal, Malawi, Uganda, Cambodia, Vietnam, and a slew of others.

A man hiking in a mountainous landscape with snow-capped peaks, lakes, and rocky terrain under a blue sky.

Colombia

A man in outdoor clothing standing beside an ancient stone carved monument with intricate designs, set against a backdrop of old brick and stone ruins.

Honduras

Four young Buddhist monks wearing orange robes standing outdoors near a stone monument, smiling and looking at the camera.

Cambodia

A man hiking in a snowy mountain landscape with snow-capped peaks in the background.

Bolivia

more travel

flying

I earned my wings as a private pilot in 2007 and bought a 1964 Cessna 182 the following year. In the ten years I owned an aircraft, I logged over a thousand hours in Pilot-in-Command (PIC) time. A lot of mountain flying among the peaks of New Mexico and Colorado, flights over the Grand Canyon, and plenty of cross-country flights to see friends relatives in Michigan, Tennessee, and other domestic locals. It grieved me to have to sell it, but my ass became too damn poor to afford it any longer.

Snow-covered mountain peaks illuminated by the setting sun with a forested area below.

Colorado

Three people inside a small aircraft giving a thumbs up and making peace signs, with the pilot and women wearing sunglasses and headsets.

Cockpit

A landscape of red rock formations and a tall, thin rock spire in a grassy valley.

New Mexico

Aerial view of a coastal landscape with green hills and cliffs along the ocean, seen from an airplane window.

California

snowboarding
&
mountain
biking

These pursuits are pretty self-evident, no details necessary. Lift passes became too pricey for the new budgetary restraints. And my back began giving me trouble, which nixed my local bike riding in the environs of the Manzano Mountains.

A person stands on snow-covered slopes with arms outstretched, wearing snowboarding gear, with mountainous landscape and a valley in the background.

Alaska

Man in black sleeveless shirt and shorts, wearing a helmet, standing with a mountain bike on a dirt path in a rural landscape under a partly cloudy sky.

The Driveway

arrested

At the age of forty-five, I got busted: possession of cocaine and molly. No convictions, so I’m not a felon. I was placed in the Pre-Prosecution Program (PPP) and had to be randomly drug tested weekly, meet with a probation officer monthly. A year of that, and I skated off with no record. Having a lawyer and no priors got me on the program. My short stay in the detention center was so goddamned boring, totally unlike the Hollywood portrayal. Although I did have a chat with a guy in for second degree murder. He was shocked this was my “first round” in jail, considering my age, lol. I’m a late bloomer on all counts.

A man with long blonde hair, glasses, and a light beard wearing an orange prison uniform standing in front of locker doors with the number 8 on one of them.

rural life
in
new Mexico

My wife, Kathleen Eickholt, and I moved to a little adobe ranch with eleven acres in Mountainair, New Mexico in 2015. The property is adjacent to two huge unoccupied tracts, and also to the Cibola National Forest, Manzano Mountains. We can only see one house from ours. It’s quiet, there’s rattlesnakes, bears, mountain lions, and a host of less exciting fauna. We have three dogs and walking them every day (and never encountering another human) is a blessing. We’re situated at 6,800 feet and we always get snow in the winters. Gathering and chopping wood every winter for the firestove is work, but I really don’t mind it. This Grizzly Adams shit is right for me in this period of my life.

A wide view of a semi-arid landscape with sparse green trees, a small house on the right, and a distant hill under a blue sky with some clouds.

La casa

A smiling man and woman sitting on a wooden log outdoors, each holding a dog, with lush green trees and a hilly landscape in the background.

The family in 2018

A sunset sky with orange and pink clouds over a dark silhouette of trees and hills.

A 5-star sunset

Three dogs: Zia at the top, Jefferson to the left, Yuri on the right. We're in a reddish canyon.

Three pitties

Seven Years

of uber

I was a midnight weekend driver in Albuquerque, ’15-’23. Out of 10,000 rides, folks have told me I should be thankful I was only attacked twice. I was not harmed in either incident, but that was two of the three times I’ve been in a fistfight after high school. The job enlightened me as to the plight of the homeless. Routes took me past the camps every night. The unhoused need rides, too, often from their job to the shelter. That’s one of the things that radicalized me—seeing people with full-time employment not being able to afford an apartment. I actually liked the job; I met a lot of interesting people. But Uber kept cutting the pay until it was hardly covering expenses. No one wants to drive all night to clear $20.