About

Ever since mischievous grade school years, Mike has had a balanced interest in Eastern and Western cultures. In part, the later is inspired from family roots in Europe. However, the prime driver has been philosophy — Eastern and Western approaches to the eternal questions regarding humanity. This lead to a soul stirring path that never fails to be instructive and humorous.

 

After obtaining a bachelor's degree in Western philosophy, Mike went to Seton Hall University for a Master’s Degree in Asian Studies. He also studied Italian at the University for Foreigner’s in Perugia, Italy; Chinese at the National Taiwan Normal University Mandarin Training Center; and Philosophy at Vivekananda College, Chennai, India.

 

To gain life experience in specific cultures, Mike lived and worked overseas. He worked as a tour director throughout Asia, taught English as a Second Language in Taiwan, a copywriter for a design company in Japan, and wrote fiction for a publisher in Taipei. While in Taiwan, he studied martial arts with a couple leading masters.

 

In 1991, Mike founded Via Media Publishing in order to produce the Journal of Asian Marital Arts (1992-2013), a peer-reviewed quarterly with high academic and aesthetic standards (selected as “One of the Ten Best Magazines” in 1991 by the Council of Editors of Learned Journals). As the publishing field changed, the journal ceased publication and Mike focused on producing anthologies and other books. He also wrote more than 75 articles mainly on martial traditions published in periodicals in the US and in Europe.

 

In addition to publishing and writing, Mike consulted and appeared in a few national television documentaries about martial arts that were aired on the Discovery Channel, Arts & Entertainment, The History Channel, and The Learning Channel.

 

In recent years, Mike has been focusing on his own writing, producing fiction and nonfiction.