Author BiographyWelcome!
Hi there! Here you can read excerpts of my novels, purchase books, read news about upcoming events and signings, plus much more!

 
 
 
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Michigan's Master of the Macabre!TM

 


Posted: 8 June 2026
Cover and Title Change
Today, I have changed the cover image and title to my serial killer novel, slated for a 2027 release. My Name is Vengeance is now Everything is Necessary.

Posted: 6 June 2026
LAUNCH DAY! The Spiritar is now available!
Paul's second novel, The Spiritar, is now available, exclusively on Amazon in hardcover, softcover and ebook formats. Order your copy today!

Posted: 23 April 2026
The Spiritar Publication Date is June 6, 2026!
Paul's second novel, The Spiritar, will be published by Black Castle Press on June 6, 2026 in ebook, softcover and hardcover formats.

Posted: 23 April 2026
Event Calendar now Active
In anticipation of Paul's second novel, The Spiritar, to be published by Black Castle Press on June 6, 2026, he has started scheduling book sales and signing events. Check the Event Calendar for details!

Posted: 7 February 2026
Coming Soon! The Spiritar
After nearly 20 years, Paul's second novel, The Spiritar, is about to be published by Black Castle Press. Look for it soon!

Posted: 19 November 2024
Cover Design for My Name is Vengeance
Paul's serial killer novel finally has a cover! See it on the home page here. Also posted are blurbs for this novel as well as for The Spiritar.

Posted: 22 January 2022
Draft Completed for The Lottery Winner
On December 28, 2021, Paul completed the first draft of a new novel, The Lottery Winner, his sixth novel. He is now busy at work on the second draft, which he expects to complete in 2022.

Posted: 12 May 2019
Queries Sent for Lost Boy
After months of preparatory work finalizing an outline, synopsis, blurb, and cover letter, not to mention one final draft of the manuscript, I successfully sent out my first group of literary agent queries over these last two weeks.

Posted: 12 May 2019
Writing Underway on New Novel The Lottery Winner
After a few false starts, the most notable in summer and fall 2017, I re-committed to this work in February this year. I have an exciting vision for this work, and am very excited to see if I can bring that vision to the page. I'm about 25,000 words in to the first draft at this point, with the goal of a completed first draft by the end of the year. Genre: literary-psychological.

Posted: 12 May 2019
Additional Drafts of Lost Boy Completed
While I thought this work was done, I ended up completing two additional drafts; Draft 7 completed 6/17/2017, and Draft 8 completed 2/3/2019. One area I've continued to struggle with regarding this work is its title. I have spent more hours than I care to count on several occasions, brainstorming for a better title, all to no avail. Cover art shown was licensed 2014 from photographer Connie Muscat.

Posted: 20 November 2016
Final Drafts of Three Novels Completed
After a much-deserved rest, post-PhD, Paul has been hard at work polishing up his latest novels and recently completed new and final drafts of three of them: My Name is Vengeance (Draft 7 completed 7/21/2016); The Spiritar (Draft 7 completed 9/28/2016); and Lost Boy (Draft 6 completed 11/4/2016).

Posted: 10 July 2015
Paul Completes Ph.D.!
On Monday, July 6, Paul learned that his amended PhD thesis had been approved by his internal examiner. On Tuesday, he arranged to have his thesis printed and bound, with two copies to be delivered to the Lancaster University library. This is the final step required before his degree will be officially conferred.

Posted: 13 March 2015
Paul Passes PhD Viva with Minor Amendments!
On Wednesday, March 4, 2015 Paul successfully defended his PhD thesis before a board of examiners in Lancaster, England. His pass is subject to him completing "minor amendments" which he is being granted 6 months to complete.

Posted: 3 April 2014
Paul Submits PhD Thesis "Lost Boy: Exploring Fictional Worlds"
Paul submitted his 390-page PhD creative writing thesis to Lancaster University, UK on April 3, 2014. This thesis includes the full novel "Lost Boy" as well as a 42,000-word critical commentary.

To see more past events & news, click on more . . .

 

Forthcoming Titles . . .

 

 

Coming June 6, 2027

Coming June 6, 2028

Michigan Fiction!

The Spiritar

Meet Mary Martin. Born with a stunning physical anomaly unexplainable by any doctor, she grows up knowing mostly loneliness and cruelty. Into this life comes tragedy and guilt: her younger sister’s death when Mary is a child and now, only three months ago, the deaths of both parents in a bizarre farming accident. Now alone, Mary attempts to put aside her grief and long-held guilt and searches for new strength and hope. Selling the family farm, she determines to start a new life. A pair of clever con artists, however, soon derail her plans, locking her in her new home’s basement. In despair and feeling more alone than ever, Mary learns the secret of her unusual physical condition when she meets Sarah—a ghost with her own tragic past.

The Spiritar. A ghost story. A love story. A story of tragedy and revenge, guilt and redemption, understanding and sacrifice. Where a stolen identity leads to betrayal and murder. Where angels and demons fight over the lost souls of the forgotten dead. Where a woman must overcome all to save not only herself, but prevent the enslavement of humankind by the spiritars—ancient human spirits with the power to traverse the worlds of the living and the dead and that which lies between—beings so rare there have been only six in all of human history. Until now. Until Mary learns it's her destiny to become the seventh. A destiny she must claim to stop them. A destiny she can only obtain by sacrificing everything she has left—and becoming—The Spiritar.

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 What Readers are Saying . . .

The Calling is a 500-plus-page-long, character-driven, lyrically-fluid tale that reads like a haunted house story with a Halloween funhouse ride-type pace that sometimes gets stuck in narrative before it starts off again and pulls you further into the ride.  The way Strickler writes tells me he knows what he's doing, like he's written for awhile, though this is his first novel.  I've said that before with other premiere writers who have put out first novels, and this is a way well-over obvious indication the chap's not only got some real talent, but the ambition of someone who believes in his work and the patience and diligence to pull out of himself a story so epic yet dealing with so tight a group of characters in a small town setting.  Yes, it rides on Essence of King, of whom I'm certain is an inspiration to the author, but Strickler is his own voice here. 

- Nicholas Grabowsky
Author, Halloween IV

 

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Last Updated: 28 June 2026

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