ABOUT

...after I resigned from the United States Air Force Academy in 1973. In preparation to write, I studied English at the University of Puget Sound where I also played defensive tackle for the UPS “Logger” Football Team. Upon graduation, I actually became a logger and found myself living in a logging camp on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington. Thinking that it was only going to be short term job, the physical and violent nature of the work hooked me, and its seasonal aspect gave me time to write.  I alternated between those activities for nine years. However, I couldn’t get any publishers interested in my writing projects and as I turned 30 realized my vocation wasn’t a good path to old age. I also wanted to get married and have a family so I went back to college. After earning a degree in Civil Engineering, I worked 28 years for Seattle City Light helping to take care of their dams and other hydroelectric facilities. As much as I enjoyed designing and building things, I never considered it more than a day job. I couldn’t resist getting up at four am to continue writing about the characters and issues alive in my head.  

​

During the spotted owl crisis, being an ex-logger allowed me to freelance articles to The Seattle Times, The Post-Intelligencer, Seattle Weekly, and Northwest Editions. In 2008, I self-published the guide book Around the Edge of the Olympics on a Mountain Bike. REI carried the and sold copies until my distributor, Partners West went out of business. I retired in 2018 and two years later, Cirque Press published my first novel, Loggers Don’t Make Love. Just recently, Cirque Journal included my short story, Idaho, in their February, 2023 issue. Currently I am working on a novel about the United States Air Force Academy titled Bright Power, Dark Peace.

 

 I am a native of Seattle and now live in my family’s old beach cabin on Hood Canal. I have two children and two grandchildren. My passion for the woods has never left me.