Well, my pen name is actually my real name, and the SSG part is 'Staff Sergeant', as in Army-type rank, though I'm retired these days. I'm a father of five (four daughters and a son, the oldest born in '93, the youngest in '06), grandfather of two (so far!) and was a military policeman for almost 20 years before retiring medically in 2009. I've been writing in one form or another since I was 15 (somewhere around '86), and I keep doing it mostly just for the hell of it. I've been into anime since at least the mid '90's, and got up the nerve to start writing fan fiction back in about '98. I've written in the Bubblegum Crisis continuum and Hellsing on the anime side and Star Wars, Smallville and Earth's Children (which I've been reading since I was a kid) more generally. I don't know how much time I'll have for writing in the near future; I developed some rather nasty health problems over the last few years (bit of a benign brain tumor, under control now with some inconvenient after-effects) but I still have plenty of ideas in my head that need somewhere to go. Retirement isn't nearly as blissful as I thought it would be, though, so writing has kind of fallen to the bottom of the cue, and I'm seriously thinking these days that any writing I do in the future should be something original that I might actually be able to make a buck off of. All of those little mouths that still need to be fed and all... I borrowed the following little poem about child abuse from http://www.fanfiction.ws/u/1540832/whipped-and_proud My name is Sarah I am but three, My eyes are swollen I cannot see, I must be stupid I must be bad, What else could have made My daddy so mad? I wish I were better I wish I weren't ugly, Then maybe my mommy Would still want to hug me. I can't speak at all I can't do a wrong Or else I'm locked up All the day long. When I awake I'm all alone The house is dark My folks aren't home When my mommy does come I'll try and be nice, So maybe I'll get just One whipping tonight. Don't make a sound! I just heard a car My daddy is back From Charlie's Bar. I hear him curse My name he calls I press myself Against the wall I try and hide From his evil eyes I'm so afraid now I'm starting to cry He finds me weeping He shouts ugly words, He says its my fault That he suffers at work. He slaps me and hits me And yells at me more, I finally get free And I run for the door. He's already locked it And I start to bawl, He takes me and throws me Against the hard wall. I fall to the floor With my bones nearly broken, And my daddy continues With more bad words spoken. "I'm sorry!", I scream But its now much too late His face has been twisted Into unimaginable hate The hurt and the pain Again and again Oh please God, have mercy! Oh please let it end! And he finally stops And heads for the door, While I lay there motionless Sprawled on the floor My name is Sarah And I am but three, Tonight my daddy Murdered me. I just found that one browsing around the site here on someone's profile. If you want to take a look, just cut and paste the url into your browser. If you do decide to look at this, prepare to have your stomach twisted into knots; one of the sites that googling the first two lines of that poem leads to has a VERY comprehensive list of kids who've died of abuse over the last couple of decades.