about

NEW! September 2018

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With all the turbulence in the world these days I could have chosen to escape to the tropics, been some kind of activist, or found solace in in a kinder, gentler past. Well, I’ve accomplished two out of three. That isn’t bad…

AS AN AUTHOR

I am not very deliberate in the book subjects I choose. I write about things I like and things I dislike. They are not based on current fads, what sells, or what other people necessarily like. You might label me a ‘selfish eclectic.’ My subjects, from then up until now have been:

  • the U.S. Foreign Service (I was a member for six years)
  • an extra-terrestrial radio signal that affects earth’s telecommunications (I worked as a radio engineer for two decades)
  • bad science reaches epic proportions (I don’t trust what bio-techs secretly do)
  • an expat pursued by greedy Hollywood execs after absconding with his mom’s prized sheltie show dog to Bangkok (a homage to our family’s brave sheltie “Lucky”)
  • baseball-my short story called Baseball Heaven
  • travel-I have set foot in sixty-seven countries

I have just completed my mystery novel, L.A. Ghost Story (see my posts). I think it’s a compilation of my youth’s fear of ghosts, clowns, and death (all distracted by the writings of my older self).

Go to “my novels” page for more information about my books.

What have I learned from writing my stories/ What could reader’s learn?

The past, a comfort zone, is such a good place to write about and learn (check out my “Foreign Service Messages” site). The present is the most risky time to learn and to write about—it’s like grasping at straws. The future can be very enlightening, but also very dangerous. I would hope that the reader would want to take small doses of each.

FOREIGN SERVICE MESSAGES (The Past)

Foreign Service Messages is a compilation of my experiences. The majority of the “messages” took place during the turbulent 1960’s through the 1980’s when I worked and traveled overseas in the military, private companies, and especially my tenure with the U.S. Department of State. In the U.S. Foreign Service, my assignments spanned Washington D.C., Karachi, Pakistan, and Nairobi, Kenya, where I traveled to many countries.

BACKGROUND

I’ve traveled to over seventy countries over the years working as a technician and engineer (many of these experiences I’ve written of in Foreign Service Messages):

  • I joined the US Army to see the world. My assignments to Germany, and especially Ethiopia, opened my eyes to the future
  • The U.S. Foreign Service taught self-reliance and at the same time demanded compromise and allegiance
  • Like the military, defense contractors, weren’t too concerned about the individual
  • I designed GSM cell phone systems for Vodafone and AT&T Wireless worldwide.

I retired from engineering and pleasantly absconded to a life in the tropics in Bangkok, Thailand, where I do my writing at coffee shops and our hideaway on the ocean shore. I pay irregular visits to my native Southern California–I owe allegiance to the two “City of Angels.”