My Biography

HELLO !

Meet Me

Ed Telfeyan's interest in, and love of, writing began when he was six or seven years old. By then, he had already been enchanted by the books about children his mother had read to him from the age of three. He still remembers, in particular, the story of "Little Lord Fauntleroy" (by Frances Hodgson Burnett) and the escapades of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn in the Mark Twain classics. He wrote his first short story at the age of nine and began to work on a first novel as a senior in high school in the New York suburb of Great Neck where Ed's life-long love of the then Brooklyn Dodgers began.

Ed's high school years were also marked by a strong religious identification. Twice baptized as an infant (once for his Armenian maternal grandparents and a second time for his Armenian paternal grandparents), Ed had also been "saved" by Billy Graham when, as a nine-year old, he came forward at a Methodist Camp Meeting in Ocean Grove, New Jersey, on hearing Reverend Graham's exhortation to "pledge his life to the Lord." Ed entered college at Gettysburg College in Pennsylvania with a career in the ministry in mind. But he was also drawn to medicine (his father's profession) and so majored in biology as a pre-med student.

By the end of his college years, however, Ed had lost both his religious faith and his interest in medicine. It was 1968, and the war in Vietnam was raging. Ed chose to serve his country as a commissioned officer in the U.S. Air Force. During those years, while serving as his squadron's Executive Officer in charge of all disciplinary matters, Ed discovered the law, and he fell in love with it. Thus, immediately after his honorable discharge as a Captain, Ed enrolled in law school at the McGeorge School of Law. He graduated in 1975, moved to Los Angeles, where he met and married his wife (and renewed his love affair with the Dodgers). In 1979, he and Jeri moved to Sacramento where Jeri shortly gave birth to their two sons.

While Ed was pursuing his legal career, he worked on another novel and, as he approached the age of 50, wrote a memoir, in the form of a daily diary/journal, entitled "My Fiftieth Year." At around that time, Ed was hired by a local newspaper in Sacramento (the Gazette) to write two weekly columns, one on his thoughts on the events of the day and the other on recent artistic performances by local musical organizations and theatrical companies. From those columns, Ed then created his own blog, entitled "Meals From the Marketplace." In his blog, Ed fully developed his writing talents and, during that period began his work on "Merging Souls." That work continued until he had completed the manuscript in 2006. Now, almost 20 years later, that book is considered a masterpiece of autobiographical fiction by those who have read it.

After nearly twenty years on the shelf, the manuscript was revived, leading Ed to partner with Boston Publishers to bring his vision to readers. Today, his work stands as a testament to persistence, authenticity, and the enduring power of a well-told story.