My younger brother, David Jeffery Rhea, and I worked on creative projects together from the time we were kids. In the early ’90s, we created one of the first true multiplayer 3D computer games for the Atari ST called Cyberdrome. Years later, we developed a far more complex version of the game for the IBM PC, featuring fractally generated landscapes and genetically evolved artificial life programs—another first.
In the early 2000s, he helped me create a story loosely based on elements of those games, which, after years of hard work, became my first science fiction novel, Cyberdrome. Inspired by that book’s success, I later decided to write a five-book dystopian undersea series called Novum. Dave volunteered to design hundreds of 3D models of the ships and environments for that world, helping me fully envision the universe.
At the same time, he was working as a special effects artist in Los Angeles. In addition to television shows and commercial projects, he helped build many of the rides featured at Disneyland, Walt Disney World, EPCOT, and Universal Studios. His last project was the Harry Potter exhibit.
While we had many plans for the years ahead, Dave tragically passed away in June 2019 after an eight-month battle with leukemia. His memory will live on with me forever, and I hope that what we created together will inspire others to pursue their dreams.