Justin Marler’s writing and traveling began in the early 1990s in the San Francisco Bay Area. At the age of 19 he joined a prominent alternative rock band, traveled extensively, and landed his first publishing deal writing fiction. Before finishing his manuscript, he left conventional life and entered an Eastern Orthodox monastery in northern California. As a monk, Justin traveled the world over, wrote spiritual texts and travelogues for magazines, worked in the publishing arm of the monastery, and wrote his first full-length book, Youth of the Apocalypse.

After seven years spent as a monk, Justin returned to “the world,” where he entered both the music and publishing professions: he fronted an alternative rock band by night and worked for Lonely Planet Travel Publications by day, where he was an in-house illustrator and occasional travel writer. After his stint at Lonely Planet, Justin worked in the travel division of Avalon Publishing Group as a production coordinator.

Justin’s first encounter with Austin was through music: While touring the U.S. with his band, they made a stop in Austin, where they performed at the famed alternative rock venue Emo’s. Today, Justin lives in Austin with his wife and two daughters, and is the frontman of the indie rock band Shiny Empire.