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urray R. Clay, the third of Neil and Jill Richardson Clay’s eight children, was born in Stanford, California--but he didn’t hang around for long.  Moving at the mature age of ten days old got him early into the habit of moving frequently.  Though not in the witness protection program (it’s no good if you tell), his father was an engineer who worked on everything from cars to defense contracts to power plants.  Following a nomadic lifestyle that would have made Genghis Khan proud, he moved from California to Utah to Michigan to Pennsylvania, and then back to California and then Utah again all before graduating from high school.

Murray attended the United States Air Force Academy for his undergraduate education where his love of country grew year after year making him the outspoken patriot he is today.  While at the Academy he also discovered that significant mental and physical strain coupled with food and sleep deprivation not only builds character, but also provides inspiration for writing fantasy (also known as hallucinations).  On the “six year program” at the Academy, Murray took two years off to serve as a missionary in Japan for the LDS Church.  This was his first experience living as an alien in a strange (but wonderful) land—the kind of first hand knowledge most science fiction writers would kill for.  Murray was also a member of the Air Force Academy’s Karate Team and competed at tournaments across the country.

After graduating, Murray married his love, Jodi, and the two spent their honeymoon driving a moving truck to Texas for intelligence officer training school.  Winning his pick of assignments, he went on to England where he served as an intelligence officer for Air Force special operations forces.  While stationed in England, he served temporary duty in Italy (Bosnia), Germany, Uganda, and Norway.  Murray spent much of his free time while on temporary duty writing and rewriting Vandermine: The Sword’s Errand.  Three years worth of weekend trips to the castles and archeological sites in England provided ample inspiration.  The birth of Murray and Jodi’s first two children, Rachel and Merrick added to their fond memories of England.

Next, Murray snagged an assignment as an instructor at the Air Force Special Operations School in Florida.  From this post, he also served temporary duty in Korea and Japan.  It was in Florida that child number three, Braden, was added to the roster.

Although Murray was proud to serve in the military, after five years of active duty he was ready to try his hand at pursuits in the civilian world.  He moved his wife and three children to his wife’s home town in Wisconsin while he attended the University of Chicago’s Graduate School of Business for his MBA degree.  Renting a small room in Chicago—dubbed the monastery--Murray attended classes and studied four days a week flogging himself to study harder until the wee hours of the morning so that he could spend a three day weekend with his family each week in Wisconsin largely homework free.  After two years of living between Chicago and Racine, Wisconsin, Murray graduated with his MBA with emphasis in finance and economics.

Following liberation from his monastery cell, Murray worked in Chicago for Banc of America Securities for a couple years.  During this period, Murray and Jodi’s fourth child, Quinn made his debut on September 12th, 2001 while every TV in the hospital was tuned to news reports of the horrific terrorist attacks of the previous day.

On New Year’s Day 2003, Murray drove out to Connecticut to take a dream job managing investments in a hedge fund where he continues to work today.  (To those not familiar with hedge funds, think of them as mutual funds with fewer rules and regulations.)  After having four children in hospitals, they had their fifth child, Natalie, at home in peace.

Throughout these many moves and job changes Murray has continued to write his novels and short stories mostly in the fantasy and science fiction genres.  The pace of his writing has ranged from years in which he averaged no more than a paragraph a day to times when he was possessed to write a 25,000 word novella in a single weekend.  In addition to writing, Murray enjoys weight lifting, martial arts, and collecting medieval armor and weapons.