Tony Simmons

A native of Northwest Florida, Tony Simmons ended a 30-year journalism career to begin teaching high school English and Creative Writing. He has since entered the world of collegiate advancement as Writing Program Manager for a state university. As a former content producer and editor for The News Herald, he garnered numerous awards for his features and columns. He edited two volumes of the Official Literary Anthology of the Panama City Centennial, as well as two volumes of the Floriopolis literary anthology. His short stories and pop culture essays have appeared in several anthologies and collections. He has taught creative writing for Gulf Coast State College's Education Encore program, as well as workshops at the Panama City Center for the Arts and other venues in Bay County, Florida. With some creative friends, he formed The Syndicate Studio, a publishing venture that produced four annual volumes of 'Adventures in the Arcane,' as well as 'Survivors,' art born from the trauma of a destructive hurricane. Tony's influences include Ray Bradbury, Lester Dent, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Clive Barker, Lord Byron, Mad magazine, Neil Gaiman, DC Comics, noir films, 1970s TV sci-fi and occult detectives, Hammer Films, Humphrey Bogart, Frank Frazetta, David Bowie, classic Star Trek, Space: 1999, Jack Kirby, Battlestar Galactica, British TV sci-fi and fantasy series, H.P. Lovecraft, Robert E. Howard, Cowboy Bebop ... you get the idea by now. He writes the way he breathes. He is not Herbert. ** (Portrait photo by Lou Columbus)