Early life C.S. Larsen's family is mainly of Danish origins; his grandparents emigrated from Copenhagan through Ellis Island in the early 1900's, settling in the small town of St. Louis Park, Minnesota. His father, Sterling John Larsen, grew up in the area, marrying Karen Marie Felix from Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin. He has two older brothers, Erik John Larsen and Todd Robert Larsen, both currently living in Minnesota. C.S. Larsen grew up in Plymouth, Minnesota, before moving to Apple Valley, and eventually to Farmington were he graduated from high school in 1984. After receiving a double major in Computer Science and Electronics Engineering at Mankato State University, he settled down in Rochester where he currently lives.Writings and literary influencesAs a child and a teenager, C.S. Larsen grew up reading the works of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Piers Anthony, Isaac Asimov, Ray Bradury, Arthur C. Clarke, David Eddings, Terry Brooks, Robert A. Heinlein, and Stephen R. Donaldson, among others. More recent influences are Neil Gaiman, Stephen King, J.K. Rowling, Scott Westerfeld, D.J. MacHale, and Eoin Colfer.In the late 1990s, C.S. Larsen published several technical books and articles for IBM, before getting more serious with his real passion in writing fantasy and science fiction. In 2006, he published The Magic Krystal and the Secret of Banderville. The following year, The Chronicles of Marvin Archibald Trekker: Boy Magician came out, winning the American Texas Writers Guild award. He published numerous short stories in the mid 2000's, winning several awards.In 2008, he published Ghosts of Southeastern Minnesota (Schiffer Publishing). Also in 2008, his story, "Adam of Argotha", came out in an anthology, Beacons of Tommorrow. In the fall of 2009, Crust and Spray (Millbrooks Press) came out. And coming out in 2010 is Strange Minnesota Monsters (Schiffer Publishing).