Look and Listen

Biography

I am a writer of fiction, non-fiction and poetry, with over 170 published stories, articles, essays, and poems as well as two novels. (Let's not count all those training manuals and technical manuals... too many to talk about here.) With over 12 years in the U.S. Navy and European travel for civilian work as well, I've seen a fair amount of the world, from California, the Kingdom of Dreams to the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan; from the steamy heat of Haiti to the cool rains of Vancouver; from the dry, baking heat of Mexico to the mists of Horseshoe Falls, Canada. My father was a minister when I was younger, too, and our experiences in Southern churches has had a definite influence on my Reverend Wilson mystery series.

After being in the Navy, I was also a college adjunct professor and a high school teacher for a few years. Teaching is a very enjoyable and rewarding profession, but dealing with administrators, and often parents, made it untenable for the longterm.

I met my wife, Lara, in Minnesota. After marriage we lived in Duluth for a while, then moved to New Hampshire. My wife and I now live in northwest Georgia, way out in the country, where we are building a new home on a hilltop with thousands of wild blackberry plants and a beautiful view of the Appalachian mountains. Except for things that are simply too monumental for us to do ourselves (pouring 108 yards of concrete comes to mind), we are doing most of the work ourselves. In the heat and humidity of Georgia summers, the phrase "sweat equity" is entirely accurate!

We have four children: two daughters who live nearby in Georgia and two sons, one in Colorado and one in Wisconsin. We also have two beautiful granddaughters, Rebekah and Evelyn. My parents live within a few miles, too, and this is one reason we moved here: to be nearby as they age and may need our help. I am an only child, since my sister died in a car accident twenty-one years ago.

I teach creative writing classes in the local Arts Center, as well as online, so I have not escaped the teaching bug.

Inspiration

As I said before, life in Southern churches has influenced my writing in the Reverend Wilson mystery series, and probably in other things as well. I was a voracious consumer of both science fiction and fantasy when I was younger, but as I got older I gravitated to westerns (Louis L'Amour) and crime fiction (Dick Francis and Tony Hillerman.) All these things have had a profound impact on my writing.

Also, I have an abiding interest in history, and authors who write well-researched historical fiction have my respect and admiration: Leon Uris, Ellis Peters, Margaret Frazer, Mary and Eric Reed are some of those!

I have to say, I have no interest in needlessly gory stories, and "street language" is for the most part unnecessary (in my opinion.) Books that devolve into either of these things will lose my interest very quickly.