ABOUT RJ PRIETO

RJ Prieto is a native of Tampa, Florida where he has lived his entire life. He began his writing career in high school where he wrote poetry and short stories. His first novel, Waldenlake, was published in 1995 by Northwest Publishing. In 2002, He wrote Dewey’s Christmas Adventure in tribute to rabbit he had during the 1990s named Dewey. In the book, Dewey and his friends Mac the Raccoon and Charlie Fox set out on a life and death journey to make it to the North Pole because Dewey’s son needs a miracle in order to survive a deadly fever.

The idea for the story came from RJ’s own bout with death in the late 1970s where he needed a miracle to survive ALL Leukemia. He wanted to capture the emotions of those that cared for him during those difficult times and Dewey's Christmas Adventure accomplishes that goal. "In a way, it's a tribute to everyone who lent me their strength so I could be here today. Like Kyle Rabbit in the book, I had no idea what was going on when things were really bad. I was asleep most of the time. That's what I remember. Today, I know what my family was going through, the prayer the tears, to some extent the acceptance that my fate was in the hands of a higher power. Today, I know there was a lot more going on in that hospital room than just me sleeping in a bed!"

The same year (2002) he formed Elite Publishers of North America as his official publishing company. In 2007, Dewey’s Christmas Adventure became a reality when it was finally published under the Elite flag. It did moderately well (selling over 300 books in 3 months) for what really amounted to an experiment. Ironically another tragedy struck a couple of years later when RJ’s own son, Todd, was stricken by the same disease RJ had defeated in 1979 and like Kyle Rabbit in the story, Todd fought bravely surrounded by the same loving family that had seen his father through his battle 3 decades earlier. Four years later, Todd was cancer free!

Today, RJ lives a quiet life in Tampa where he is writing a series of books to expand Dewey Rabbit’s world. He loves history and also writes historic fiction under the name, Joseph Black. When not writing, he enjoys travel, hiking, kayaking, photography and of course, a good story.