I admit I spent three decades practicing law.

But I would have rather been a writer. Trial work did allow me to fight the old battles of my youth (primarily against authority of any kind), and it provided a treasure trove of material that writers search for tirelessly. Courtroom work, if you do it right, is essentially story telling. Not just any story. It must ring true because In court emotions are tense, senses are acute. The result can be comic in its absurdity, or sad enough to make you weep. The stories juries hear can be full of hubris and defensive pride, or fearful, shy and pleading. Either way, they all churn your gut. And your adversaries at the bar can be insidiously cunning, though skilled in the art of deception. As often as not, the truth is hard to find. But these were my peers, my fellow lawyers, and sometimes me, who later came to populate my fiction.

I'm pleased with the responses to my book Slugger - "A roman à clef based on a lawyer's journal puts him in the cross hairs in this legal thriller.... (O'Neill) orchestrates his complicated, twisty plot toward an unexpected and satisfying conclusion.... A well-plotted and dense courtroom tale." (Kirkus Reviews).