A native of Turlock, California, Richard Paolinelli began his writing career as a freelance writer in 1984 and gained his first fiction credit serving as the lead writer for the first two issues of the Elite Comics sci-fi/fantasy series, Seadragon. His sports writing career spans stops at the Gallup Independent, Modesto Bee, Turlock Journal, Merced Sun-Star, Tracy Press, San Mateo County Times and the San Francisco Examiner. He won the 2001 California Newspaper Publishers Association award for Best Sports Story while at the Turlock Journal.

In 2013, Richard retired as a sportswriter and decided to return to his fiction writing roots. He released two short stories – The Invited and Legacy of Death – as well as a full-length sci-fi novel, Maelstrom. In 2015, Richard completed nearly two years of research and interviews and published, From The Fields: A History of Prep Football in Turlock, California. One month later, the first book of the Jack Del Rio series, Reservations, was published by Oak Tree Press.

In 2016, Richard was one of a dozen authors selected to participate in, Beyond Watson, an anthology of original Sherlock Holmes stories and was one of 20 writers involved in a second Holmes Anthology, Holmes Away From Home, released in December. Perfection’s Arbiter, a biography of National League Umpire, Babe Pinelli, was released on October 8th. W & B Books acquired the Jack Del Rio series and released the second book, Betrayals, in November.

In January of 2017, Richard returned to his science fiction roots with the release of the novel, Escaping Infinity, for which he has been named as a finalist for Best Sci-Fi Novel for the 2017 Dragon Awards. Escaping Infinity was awarded 2nd place in the Blue Ribbon Book Cover Contest and “Official Selection” in the 2017 New Apple Summer E-Book Awards.

In the fall, having reacquired all of the rights to the Del series, Richard will release the third and final Jack Del Rio books, Endgames, along with new editions of the first two novels, Reservations and Betrayals. He will also have a story in the Sherlock Holmes In The Realm Of H.G. Wells anthology by Belanger Books and will be in another anthology, My Peculiar Family 2.

A father of two with two grandchildren, Richard and his wife are avid sci-fi and horror fans – in case you couldn’t guess from this website’s background theme.