Bill Ectric says he writes to erase the line between mysticism and science. He likes mystery, humor, magic realism, science fiction, and metafiction so he combines those elements in his own writing. His book, Tamper Illustrated, is about growing up in the 1960s with strange noises in the walls, dark magic in the leaves, young love, the Shaver Mystery, psychedelics, and screaming skulls.
Bill has written, cowritten, or edited several books. His short stories and essays have appeared in other people’s books, including volumes five and eight of the critically acclaimed Emanations literary anthology series with the work of over sixty writers and artists from around the world. Bill has a master’s degree in English from the University of North Florida.
On the internet, Bill can be found at Sein und Werden, Literary Kicks, Folio Weekly, Lit Up Magazine, Empty Mirror Books, Red Fez, Candlelight Stories, Boston Poetry, Spolia, McSweeney’s and AylettVision .
Bill King published his first book in 2005 under the name Bill Ectric, hoping an uncommon name would stand out. He continues to write books as Bill Ectric. The first published book review of Fighting Monsters by Jim Matthews was written by Bill and appeared in the UNF Spinnaker under the name Bill Ectric King.
Bill has wanted to write for as long as he can remember. He was born Bill King, Jr. in Christiansburg, Virginia in 1954, named after his father. In the third grade, Bill Jr started using his dad’s typewriter. Four years later, Bill Sr bought his son a typewriter and gave him the desk he had built by hand. Another time Sr brought home a used mimeograph machine for his boys to play with. Bill Jr and his brother Jeff printed comic books, which they drew and wrote, with monsters and super heroes. They mostly handed out the comics with candy on Halloween, and secretly hid them behind real comics in the rotating rack at the Rexall Drugstore. They watched from the lunch counter to see what happened when kids found them. Neither of those distribution models proved fiscally sound.
Bill and a friend impulsively joined the Navy upon graduating from high school in 1972. Bill was stationed in Rota, Spain where he worked in the Air Terminal keeping track of cargo manifests from incoming planes. When off-duty, he says, “I ran wild in Spain, Morocco, London, and Greece and prayed that I would someday get it written down.” Bill is rarely specific about his past escapades, preferring to let his stories speak for themselves, with some blurring between reality and fiction.
Bill Ectric King in Spain, minutes before boarding a boat to Tangier, Morocco 
Saturday in Rota, Spain, 1973. Photo by Bill Ectric King. 
Tangier, Morocco. Photo by Bill Ectric King. 
Bill in Algeciras, a province of Cádiz, Spain, near the Strait of Gibraltar. 
Hospital Corpsman friend of Bill Ectric on a ferry from Tarifa, Spain to Tangier, Morocco, 1974 
Bill Ectric King on a ferry from Tarifa, Spain to Tangier, Morocco in 1974 
In 1975, Bill was transferred to Jacksonville, Florida, N.A.S. Cecil Field.
Bill met writers, musicians, artists, and seekers who told him about Jacksonville’s “Riverside” neighborhood, which they described as “bohemian” and “counterculture.” When Bill was honorably discharged from the Navy in July 1976, his first civilian residence was in the Riverside neighborhood.
