Ryan … know him, love him …

Ryan E Stevenson (who goes by Ry) is a Canadian computer programmer, drummer, actor / comedian, former artist and aspiring writer, who’s accolades - while slight - have lead him to podcasting and the dream of having a novel with his name on it.

Since computer programming is boring (but pays the bills), we’ll cut right to the chase. Drumming first. Ry plays drums for a local Waterloo, Ontario based rock band. While the name is still up in the air, this project is his most ambitious musical property to date. Prior to that, Ry played a variety of instruments in a stage jazz band, before finally settling on the trumpet. From there, making the segue into rock was easy. Ry picked up drumming on an old 7-piece Westbury “Frakenkit” that cost $200. From there, he had brief forays into vocal work, and as the drummer for a local country bar act. His longest act, to date, has been as the drummer for Peterborough-based rock band Chrome.

As for art, Ry was enrolled / accepted into the Joe Kubert School of Comic Book Art. Upon receiving his bills, and being a realist at heart, Ry did not attend the school. Nonetheless, his artistic accolades are as numerous as his writing ones (see the first paragraph, if you don’t get the irony). When photos of his work become available - if they don’t suck - he’ll put them here.

Acting, ironically, is where Ry has the most honest credentials. As an actor, Ry was rated the number 1 Shakespearean monologue actor in his age group three years running in the Ontario Kiwanis Festival. He has starred in two local theater group productions, his last coming in the role of Tony for the one-act play Impromptu. As a comedian, Ry starred for a year and a half as part of the local “Whose Line is it Anyway?” troupe, and also performed minor stand-up routines both in and out of school. This, of course, is beyond the usual booberie that becomes a night with Ry.

And the writing. Of all his pursuits, writing is the one that has been the most consistent, and yet somehow, hovered in the background. Ry’s only “published” work as of this posting comes as the contest winner to the Tech for Writer’s podcast Special Contest number 1, where his entry - “Love in the Time of Spiders” - took the prize. That success provided an ego boost that propelled him up to the knees into the proverbial swimming pool of writing. While short fiction is the only form he has completed from start to finish, Ry is currently workshopping what will eventually become his first novel. Here’s a teaser: it’s got characters, a plot, and conflict.

What else would you like to know? Ry plays World of Warcraft … yeah, that seems worth noting, since it puts him in with 8 million other people. Still, he has yet to succumb to leet speak. “It is the Devil,” says Ry. “The big, stinking devil.”

No woots.