AJ graduated from Seton Hall University with a Master of Arts in English (and a concentration in Creative Writing) after receiving his Bachelor of Arts in English and Philosophy also from Seton Hall. When he was sixteen, he joined the Whippany Fire Department as a volunteer, serving as a fire fighter in every capacity despite having diabetes. In the Fall of 2012, while maintaining a full-time college course load, he began the Essex County Public Safety Training Academy’s Basic Course for Class II Special Law Enforcement Officers, graduating in April 2013 with the highest academic average (and earning a 4.0 GPA in both Fall and Spring college semesters as well). Afterwards, he served as a Deputy Sheriff with the Essex County Sheriff’s Office for two years until he was hired by the Union City Police Department as a Class II Police Officer in March of 2015. 

As a writer, he has contributed to diabetes websites such as Insulin Nation and The Diabetic Journey. His genre-bending work “The Last Will and Testament of Harry B. Balsagna” was selected as a finalist in Permafrost Magazine’s 2017 New Alchemy contest, and his work appears or is forthcoming in Harpur Palate, NAILED Magazine, Rose Red Review, Quantum Fairy Tales, Flash Fiction Magazine, and Breath & Shadow (a quarterly journal of disability culture and literature), among others. He has also published two fantasy novels, The Silver Talon and its sequel, Destiny’s Map: The Lost Road, and co-authored an introductory book on the literature of the Middle Ages as part of Routledge’s Basics Series. 

While not reading or writing, he enjoys practicing medieval swordplay with friends, attending Renaissance Fairs, visiting the Medieval galleries and displays of museums, playing the piano, and spending time at the gym.