It began with the Science Fiction Book Club, spread to general literature in college and stayed with me throughout my professional career (journalist, educator & entrepreneur). "It" being the love of fiction that transports the reader to another reality.  Early writing attempts, including a creative writing course at Oberlin College, were juvenile.  Later on they were confined to week-ends, but when computers came along, starts could be saved, and I could come back to them and push them along. Over time some beginnings became middles where they naturally bogged down.  Finally when I "semi-retired," I made the decision to see if a middle could be pushed to a finish. One could and it exists today as The Expendable Man, a political thriller with a 4.6 rating on Amazon. Knowing that I did it once, I've went back to some earlier starts and completed my second novel which I published early in 2012. Making the Grade is a police procedural featuring rookie detective Shannon Lynch. It takes place in Albany, NY in the year 2000. A suspense, Last Stop on Desolation Ridge, was published early in 2013, followed later that year by  In the Game, another Albany Police Procedural. 2014 was spent on another thriller, House Divided. It is the story of a family caught in the undertow of the Arab-Israeli conflict. My only ambition is to get better and to leave a legacy worth reading.