Colorado Springs, Colorado, United States
Rising Phoenix Books
About us - Author Ryan Rodriguez
Ryan is an up and coming author who hit the ground running with his refreshingly different debut series: Earth's Last Ships. Here at Rising Phoenix Books, we strive to push the limits of literary possibility in the hopes that one day, we'll all get to experience our own science fiction or fantasy adventures!
My Life
A sneak peek into my personal life.
My name is Ryan Rodriguez. I was born in Anchorage, Alaska as an Air Force brat. I got to experience many new places growing up, while meeting lots of interesting and unique people. I learned to understand lots of different unique cultures and places.
After graduating High School back home in Alaska, I attending the University of Wyoming. I did not do well. I squandered scholarships and money. I failed time and again in different majors. School was not for me. Not at that time.
I moved on. I found new jobs and a new home in Colorado Springs. One of these jobs gave me a new sense of dedication and motivation. I finally managed to go back to school online and complete my Bachelor of Science in Psychology in 2019 from the University of Wyoming. 12 years after I originally started. It's never too late to bounce back.
During my time, I have come to enjoy many hobbies including hiking, dogs, exploring, gaming, reading, movie going, and brewery hopping. I met my wife in 2017 and married her in 2019.
Like most people, my life has had its ups and downs. I am proud to say that I have made it through the worst times of my life even stronger. I hope that my writing can encourage others to be successful in this endeavor as well.
Moving forward, I am re-enrolling in college to pursue new majors in Electrical and Computer Engineering in hopes of working for a technology company. I want to be part of this world moving forward and advancing.
My Work
A look into my professional life outside of my budding Author career.
My life has been a roller coaster of job hopping like many others. I started off in fast food in high school. Most of my life revolved around the food service industry. When my college aspirations first faltered, I found a new source of tuition assistance.
I joined the Army National Guard and spent ten years serving. I spent time in multiple professions within the guard: Combat Engineer, Horizontal Construction Engineer, and Pneudraulic Repairer for Blackhawks. I developed many new skills and insights into the world.
When I moved to Colorado Springs, I added a new career. I finally left the food industry and found myself working in a psychiatric hospital. I found a new passion here working with kids suffering from mental illness, primarily depression. My wife and I are training our dogs to become therapy dogs with the goal of helping more people out in the community and hospitals. This became my inspiration to return and finally complete my schooling.
Through my experiences, I have found that people need coping skills to handle the chaotic world we live in. One of the best has been reading. I have found that people who can read can escape from the world and recharge themselves while they're engrossed in a good read.
I aspire to provide one of those outlets for people moving forward.
My Community
A look into the wonderful places I have lived and where I've chosen to settle down.
My life has brought me all over the United States and allowed me to travel abroad. As I mentioned earlier, I was born in Anchorage, Alaska. Being an Air Force brat, I also had the luxury of living in: Florida, North Carolina, and New York during my child hood. That doesn't sound like a lot, but we also kept bouncing back to Alaska between other states.
When I graduated High School, I got the opportunity to go to college. I chose the University of Wyoming because they offered me a strong scholarship. I accepted before I ever visited. When I visited, it was quite the culture shock. Laramie, Wyoming had a population under 30,000. That state is sparsely populated and straight out of a western. But I fell in love. It is a peaceful, safe state that brought many amazing experiences with it. It is full of some of the most incredible natural vista in the United States. I still make an effort to visit annually at the least.
After seven years in Wyoming, I moved to Colorado Springs. Again, I was astounded by the scenery, but still dealt with culture shock. This place was a thriving city nearly 15 times bigger. This city and state have given me more opportunities than anywhere else in my life. I couldn't imagine living anywhere else. The people are friendly and welcoming of all. There is growth and a sense of community here. The outdoors are better than anywhere else, except maybe Alaska. The drivers could be better though.
Join My Journey
A short tale about my journey to become a published Author.
The idea for my first book originated in 8th grade for me. We had to write a short story for creative writing. I was very much into fantasy books and movies growing up, so that seemed to be the logical choice for me. My short story was title: The Lightning Bow. That was the first assignment in school I had ever completed passionately.
Fast forward about 6 years and I'm in college when I remember that short story. It was a little derivative of other authors like the late great JRR Tolkein or my all-time favorite Terry Brooks. I decided that I wanted to turn it into a novel, but needed a unique take on it. The idea sparked a concept of telling a Fantasy story through the lens of a Science Fiction novel.
That spawned the idea for the entire series that has grown in my head for years. I have the ideas written down, but writing out the novels is its own monster. From the time I wrote the original prologue to the time I typed 'The End' for the first time was 11 years. I have learned a lot and grown a lot as an author.
Now I'm at the publishing stage. I decided to pursue the self publishing path to get my book out there sooner rather than later. It's a lot of work, but I'm hopeful. If you have a goal in life, don't ever quit. It may take far longer than you ever hoped, but you can make it happen.
