Paul Rios was born in Walnut Creek, Calif., in 1985. He attended California State University, Sacramento and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in journalism and a minor in creative writing. In college, he hosted a radio show, drew editorial cartoons, wrote for his student paper and published some bad poetry.
Upon graduation, he considered a stint in the French Foreign Legion. A severe case of tennis elbow halted those plans. Instead, he joined a skiffle band and toured the country under the alias Buford Mohammed al-Shabazz. He played the cigar-box fiddle and helped pen the modern skiffle classic, “Justin Bieber, Grow a Beard.”
Contrary to rumors, he was not arrested for stealing goat’s milk in Tuscaloosa. That was all a misunderstanding. He dislikes writing about himself in the third person, but acknowledges that sometimes convention requires the individual to do things he or she may not like.