Charles Coleman Finlay worked for John Galipault at the Aviation Safety Institute (a forerunner of Europe's Eucare safety project), briefly served as a studio assistant for porcelain artist Curtis Benzle, and studied Constitutional history with Saul Cornell, helping to research The Other Founders, which won the 2001 Society of the Cincinnati Prize for history. All of which looks much more interesting in retrospect than it did at the time.

He might have learned something about following one's passions from the first job, about artistic integrity from the second, and about disciplined writing from the third. Or he might not have. It's still an open question.

Currently, he serves as Administrator for the Online Writing Workshop for SF/F and writes short stories for magazines like F&SF. He lives in Columbus, Ohio, USA, where he does little of interest and looks forward to more retrospect.