Leland was born in 1936 in northern Mississippi, the first of three sons and a daughter of Ralph and Edith, grew up in a farm environment with abundant access to outdoor adventures such as hunting and fishing. After two years Army service, in 1961 he married and migrated to northern Virginia, became the father of three daughters and a graduate of American University (B.S./Public Administration and computer studies) in Washington, D.C.  He spent ten years as a travelling hardware salesman and thirty-two years as a computer software engineer. Outdoor adventures at every opportunity helped prepare him for work as a full time author, poet and inventor. The rigid disciplines required for designing logic for large, complex computer software systems brings a particularly elegant style to his novels. Vibrant descriptions of predator and prey, perpetrator and victim, hunter and quarry come from the perspective of his life-long passion for observing the nature of animals and people and the environments they inhabit. Whether they are outdoor adventures set in wilderness, realistic science fiction set in small western town and countryside, or medical thriller set in glass, steel and concrete of the city, his characters come to life — and embroider unique stories with vivid color, dialog and action. He and his second wife Linda live near the Rappahannock River in northern Virginia where they spend time fishing, camping, hiking with their Jack Russell Terriers, hunting, observing nature and communicating these passions to readers through novel prose and poetry.

I hold US Patents in the fields of solar energy, sporting goods and beverage containers. My poetry appears in four anthologies. I have published four full length novels and three other books.

www.rappahannockbooks.com is my associated web site that describes my work. NOVELS: The Last Grizzly (Dorrance Publishing Co.), Anasazi Harvest, Vigilante Virus, and GRIZ NIGHTMARE (Rappahannock Books). EXERCISE MANUAL: WALKERCISE, a unique body-building process CHILDRENS PICTURE BOOK: Russells In The Leaves Features the author’s Jack Russell Terriers on a woods trip. POETRY COLLECTION: Satin Verses. GRIZ NIGHTMARE, the latest novel by R. Leland Waldrip, is a unique tale said to keep its readers awake late into the night. It brings a young man’s passionate attempt to return his traumatized life to normalcy into relief against new and unforseen stark realities. The fast-paced story of what happens to Jim Wilson on the way to find a cure for old phobias -- how he deals with even harsher replacement nightmares keeps the pages turning as the clock tick, tick, ticks . . .

Rappahannock Books
This site describes books and poetry by R. Leland Waldrip.