I am Kai Rho Ribeiro and I’m a teller of stories. I currently live in the USA.

I was raised in a bilingual family in the USA with Spanish as my first language. I had some difficulties early on in school writing my thoughts down in English. By high school I became more comfortable with the English language and was able to surprise my teachers with creative and funny stories. But I still felt that my vocabulary was smaller than my (monolingual) peers and my writing skills were less than adequate.

The turning point for me came in college, when my Spanish language teacher asked the class to write original stories in Spanish from a designated list of vocabulary words. Comfortable finally writing in my native language, I was able to create wild and imaginative stories. Each chapter was a new challenge and I was able to step up and improve my story telling ability. My teacher loved my compositions and would enthusiastically read my stories to the entire Spanish class.

With the confidence I gained from my Spanish writing assignments in college, I decided that maybe I could write after all. I began to tinker with a few story ideas based in the topics I favored: science fiction, science fact, ancient civilizations, technology, religion … and here we are.

I have an artistic side and like to draw, sing, dance, play guitar, write songs and tell stories, among other things. I am also a scientist at heart so science fiction is where my creative juices flow from.

I also have a dark side, a wounded soul in search of healing. Most of my life I have had to deal with prejudices and discrimination against me for my race, ethnicity, sex, religious beliefs, sexual orientation, language, accent and even intelligence. I believe in “live and let live” and I also believe in the Star Trek Vulcan IDIC philosophy of “Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations“. Our differences make us stronger, not weaker.

I have a thick skin so I know to ignore the ignorant people, but sometimes the discrimination effects my life, my family and my job. I push back when I can but at times it is best to be quiet. But my soul will not be silenced so you will no doubt hear some of my pain coming thru in my writing. It’s not intentional or heavy handed. It’s just my spirit talking.

Now if you want to learn about me, read my stories. I am in every character and in every situation. My stories are about my life and the special people close to me. Understand my stories, and you’ll understand me.

Peace. Paz.
— KRR

La Araña – The Spider

In Spanish araña (pronounced “ah-rAHn-ya“) means “spider”. I like to use the spider as a symbol of my writing since, like a spider, a storyteller spins a web of words and images. It could be said that a well written story can trap a reader inside like a fly caught in a spider web. So just consider me La Araña and this is my web.

Kai Rho Ribeiro in American-English is pronounced: “KYE-roh ree-BAY-roh”
It is fairly easy. If you really want to impress me, try rolling the Rs.

Kai Rho: after the Greek letters Chi Rho (XP), not the Egyptian city, and not associated with anything religious. No it’s not your typical first name, but then I’m not your typical story teller.

Ribeiro: because using more than one surname confuses some folks in this country. Heck, having a two word first name is dumbfounding enough. Yes, it’s Spanish. And Portuguese. And Brazilian.