Mark Anthony Byers

Mark Anthony Byers was born in Fredericksburg, Virginia, and raised in Keyser, West Virginia. He received his B.S. in Mass Communications/Journalism from Virginia Commonwealth University but after working as a free-lance writer he ultimately pursued a career in broadcasting. He spent twenty years in radio in Richmond and Farmville, Virginia, and Atlanta, Georgia, under the professional name of Mark Niemand. He contracted an infection during open-heart surgery that left him in a coma and created both severe short-term and long-term memory loss, which has steadily improved over the years and allowed him to return to writing. He earned his Master's in Professional Counseling and works in the Mental Health field in Central Virginia.