He has taught world literature, composition, and research writing at BahçeÅŸehir Å°niversitesi in Istanbul, Turkey, the University of Tampa, Florida, Pacific Union College in Napa Valley, California, and the University of California, Los Angeles. He has also worked as a French tutor, radio news broadcaster, and mail carrier. His areas of interest include pre-modern East Asian literature, Buddhism in literature, the Japanese novel, quest allegory, and children's literature. He enjoys cycling, gardening, surfing, and meditation. He has published articles on Lewis Carroll, David Lindsay, and C.S. Lewis, and is currently writing an analysis of the influence of traditional Japanese aesthetics in Kobo Abe's novel The Woman in the Dunes, as well as researching a book-length study exploring the ways economic considerations have shaped the development of contemporary children's literature. He has written four children's novels: Brickworks, Down to Clown Around Town, The Attention Grabbers, and The Under-Elf.

Religious Studies, English and American Literature