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 in New Mexico, Arizona and California. He won the 2001 California Newspaper Publishers Association award for Best Sports Story. 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. 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 the Holmes Anthology, Holmes Away From Home, released in December. Perfection's Arbiter, a biography of National League Umpire, Babe Pinelli, was released in October. The second book of the Del Rio series, Betrayals, was released in November. In 2017, Richard returned to his science fiction roots with the January release of the award-winning novel, Escaping Infinity, for which he has been named as a finalist for Best Sci-Fi Novel for the 2017 Dragon Awards. The third book of the Del Rio series, Endgames, was released in October.