About Me
My BIO
Thanks for showing some interest in my bio - hopefully my writing and speaking are far more interesting. I enjoyed a successful "first" career in the mysterious world of Corporate Finance, but creating and telling stories (and not about Finance) was my true love. My first full-length novel was the product of several years of very early mornings before work. It was a sci-fi work called Patriot Star, a hefty 800-page tome. In 2022, I added its sequel, Kindred Star, which was similarly hefty.
My second novel, I Was Called Barabbas, published in 2019, had a very different genesis, growing as a list of scenes written at various times over several years and then finally organized into a coherent whole. Few efforts were made to utilize a mainline publisher for Barabbas, and it was ultimately published on Amazon in paperback and ebook formats using some design and editing talent from reedsy.com (from Lance Buckley and Robin Patchen). The audiobook version was soon added, voiced beautifully by Jim Cooper. One book turned into two (Pillars of Barabbas) and then a capstone to a trilogy (The Barabbas Legacy), which has been a wonderful and unexpected journey.
After The Barabbas Legacy was finished, I published a book with similar themes and frame of reference (including timeframe) called The Servant of Helaman. It's different in that it's a spy thriller. It's also longer and a little more involved. So much fun, too.
In 2023, I'm working on the first spin-off of the Barabbas series, called Sophia: Daughter of Barabbas. She's a spitfire, and the story flies. I'm also working on my first fantasy novel, with two drafts already complete. The working title is Crossroads of Sundering Memory. I've wanted to write a fantasy book (and series) for a long time, and I finally have time to do it. Other projects are also in the works, or soon to be started.
I've raised two children with my very patient wife, and we have three grandchildren. I knew it would be fun to have grandkids, but it's even better than I expected.
I also enjoy watching and playing sports, which is good, because it means I'm not sitting all the time … and politics, which is probably bad. Politics are fascinating and painful, and they permeate more aspects of our lives than we could possibly ever realize. Human nature is what it is, and it hasn't fundamentally changed for thousands of years. Real life is at least as strange as fiction.
Writing Advice
Giving writing advice is tricky. It depends on why you're writing, and to whom. Just remember that your writing will have an impact, and that little things get noticed and create impressions. If you don't edit sufficiently, you'll fail in getting your message across effectively, and you might not end up sounding as genuine as you intended.