Carl Emerson Johnson Jr. is a UCLA Medical School graduate, scientist, astronomer, songwriter, storyteller, and now novelist, with his first science fiction work, Horizon. Born in Birmingham, Alabama, Carl was raised in post-war Austria and Germany following his father’s military career as a United States Tuskegee Airman stationed in Europe. Carl was born into a family who appreciated scholarly writers, inheriting his father’s middle name, which had been given to him by his father who was an admirer of the writings of Ralph Waldo Emerson. After witnessing a brilliant meteor at the age of seven, Carl became emersed in astronomy, which introduced him to the writings of science fiction author Andre Norton and, later, J.R.R. Tolkien. Carl was captivated by their depictions of grand adventures experienced by characters, creating a third-person narrative, and was inspired to tell his own story. His desire to create his own world through writing was born.