Billy Dering spent the first eighteen years of his life growing up on the New Jersey shore.  After high school, his life took a path through South Carolina, Louisiana, and finally home, back to Ocean County, New Jersey, where he currently resides. This geographic area is a part of New Jersey not enough people really see, with the splendor of the Atlantic Ocean, Barnegat Bay and the forests of the Pinelands National Reserve, all becoming a primary backdrop for the Utopia Project trilogy. A business administrator by profession, Dering has written many professional pieces and press releases, and is now applying his love of writing in crafting his own post-apocalyptic novels. He has always been an avid reader of all genres, especially post-apocalyptic, dystopian and techno-thrillers. Dering also enjoys outdoor recreation, songwriting, guitar playing, sports and the soul-soothing ambiance of the sea, especially when the beach and boardwalk are deserted!