Born in Cuba and raised in Central America, R.J. Pineiro spent his early years in the midst of civil wars before he migrated to the United States in the late 1970s, first to Florida before settling in Louisiana.R.J. earned a degree in electrical engineering from Louisiana State University in 1983 and joined the high-tech industry in Austin Texas, where he worked in computer chip design, test, and manufacturing, before retiring in 2011 to focus full time on his books.In addition to his high-tech work, R.J. is also an instrument rated private pilot, holds a black belt in martial arts, is a firearms enthusiast, and enjoys the privileges of his Open Water SCUBA certification. In the late 1980s RJ began studying to become a novelist. As he read every chance he had, from classical literature to contemporary novels, RJ's love of storytelling became uncontrollable. Using an aging personal computer, he decided to start his writing career. Once he began typing, he never stopped.R.J.'s first novel, centered around guerilla warfare in Cuba and Central America, was good enough to earn him representation but not publication. But with his agent's guidance, he wrote Siege of Lightning, a novel about a sabotaged space shuttle, which sold to the Berkley Publishing Group on first submission. Over the following 25 years, R.J. wrote fourteen additional novels, published by Tom Doherty Associates in New York City. His latest novel, The Fall, published by Thomas Dunne Books, is scheduled to be released in the Spring of 2015.