Just finished my fifth book (of which more below), and first work of fiction. Retired now from a career in science, and living in Simsbury, Connecticut, I spent most of my professional life teaching, most recently at the University of Hartford. Along with my wife, I have traveled extensively and lived abroad for periods of time. In Turkey I taught at Robert College and in Lebanon at the American University of Beirut. I also spent a sabbatical leave at the University of Sussex in England.

Chemistry was the subject of my first two books. One, a textbook of polymer chemistry, is in its third edition with Oxford University Press and enjoying worlwide sales. The next two were coauthored with my wife and were historical in nature. One of these was a biography of a remarkable American missionary to Armenians in Ottoman Turkey (Against the Devil's Current: The Life and Times of Cyrus Hamlin).

Evan's War is the title of my first novel. The story concerns a young Welsh coalminer, Evan Morgan, who joins the army at the onset of the First World War to escape the mines, and is sent to fight the Turks at Gallipoli, unprepared for the horrors of trench warfare. Eventually he seeks refuge from the war in a village on the Bosphorus populated by Turks and Armenians. More information can be obtained from the Web site www.xlibris.com/EvansWar.html.

Should anyone out there read my book, I would love to get your feedback. The book, by the way, was a project for a writers group to which I belong, an activity I recommend to any aspiring author.