Look and Listen

Biography

I hold a near-religious fervor for aeronautical history. A lifelong pilot, I live on an eclectic airport with aircraft ranging from Sopwith to Learjet; it wasn’t unusual during the creation of DAYS OF SMOKE for engine song from a P-51 Mustang to nourish a burgeoning dogfight scene. Though I hold an MBA, it wasn’t until age forty-two that I finally realized what I wanted to be when I grew up and started writing. When not working on my next novel, I can often be found in the bicycle saddle.

Inspiration

History made a deep impression on me from a very young age. I paid attention to the war stories told by the military veterans among my parents’ friends. I met a concentration camp survivor when I was seven, who gave me a very gentle nudge toward understanding what happened to millions of Jews and gentiles at the hands of the SS. But it was my interest in airplanes that really fired my imagination. The seed for DAYS OF SMOKE was planted back in 1968, when I slid FATE IS THE HUNTER off my folks’ basement bookshelf and started absorbing aviation in through my pores. Later that same year, a ride in a 1927 Ford Trimotor cemented my interest for life.