Eric specializes in pop culture, especially in music. While working for the Westfield Leader, Eric was able to shed new light on the long ignored local music scene, finding new musical groups from rock to reggae to rap. He has also interviewed and reviewed established performers such as Pat Dinizio of the Smithereens and Woodstock legend Richie Havens.
Eric has studied pop culture for much of his life. Other then his work on music for local newspapers, he has also analyzed and reviewed for his blog, TheLightriderJournals, at Wordpress.com. As an author, Eric looks at events of the day and reviews them to find the critical tools that writers can use. These include films (trilogies, Star Wars, Back to the Future), comic books (DC Comics' New 52, Marvel's alterations to Thor and Captain America), literature (Dracula and Richard Matheson), and any other source that can aid young writers.
Eric began his college career studying to be an English teacher. He spent three years studying both the English literature and methodology a teacher a needs, and also spending time working in the field, training in two different high schools his junior and senior year. However, Eric felt unsatisfied with teaching, and chose to focus on his passion, writing. He became a full English major, specializing in creative writing. It was here that he began to work on his novel, The Lightrider Journals. Eric graduated cum laude with a 3.85 GPA.
As an author, Eric promotes his work and expertise on his wordpress blog, where he analyzes pop culutre and established work to show writers the secrets of good writing. He has examined the works of established authors (Ray Bradbury, Stephen King, Terry Brooks), television (Avatar: The Last Airbender), books (Dragonlance Chronicles, Dracula) comics (Marvel/DC) and film (Star Wars, Back to the Future, The THing), to give writers a better understanding of what constitutes good (and bad) writing. He annually complies horror and holiday lists for the months of October and December respectively.
Eric has written for multiple years on the local music scene in Westfield NJ, finding local artists, conducting interviews and reviews, as well as speaking with more established artists (Richie Havens, Pat Dinizo). He has also written online reviews for the media website Suite101.com, compiling lists of rock history, reviews of current pop songs, and current events in the music world.
Eric maintains a personal blog for his book promotion and to anazyle the writing content of pop culture, using film, TV, books, authors and even music as examples.
Eric has written two novels in the fantasy series, The Lightrider Journals. Published through iUniverse, the novels follow the story of Joseph Hashimoto, a man brought back from the dead as leader of the Elementals, a group dedicated to balancing good and evil. Powered by the elements, the Elementals work to manage the hidden worlds of magic and monsters humanity doesn't see, so that the Chaos Demons, the ancient enemies of existence, stay locked away.