James Todd Cochrane was born in Fremont, California. He received his BA from Utah State University, where he majored in Business Information Systems with a minor in German.

A writer since elementary school, he published his first novel, Max and the Gatekeeper, in 2007. The sequels, The Hourglass of Souls and The Descendant and the Demon's Fork, followed

He now lives in Madison, Wisconsin, where he writes part-time while working as a computer programmer. 

His first novel, Max and the Gatekeeper, is on the Accelerated Readers List and was a 2010-2011 Alaska Battle Book.

He recently published his first novella, Centalpha 6 Part I. This will be a running YA Sci/Fi series. Part II is set for release November 2012.