I've wanted to be a writer ever since I learned to read.  Having to earn a living kept me from it, but in retirement I cut loose.  I think my main reason for writing now is to get readers to see things the way I see them.  My major influences, I suppose, are my favorite authors: Henry Fielding, Mark Twain, and Miguel de Cervantes.  As a young man I was mentored by Ray Bradbury and Henry Kuttner. Sweet Betsy from Pike tries to get people to see the folksong it's based on as the story of a girl growing up into a strong woman.  The Robin Hood Chronicles attempts to show Robin Hood as I came to see him after digging into the oldest sources of the legend.  Adolf Hitler in Oz has two main purposes: (1) to show that goodness and love always triumnph over evil and hate and (2) to show that no man is created evil and even Hitler can learn to become a person.  Huckleberrry Finn Grows Up is a sequel to Mark Twain's classic and takes Huck from 1842, when he's about 14, to 1865.

Kansas Folklore was selected by U.S. Information Agency for placement in overseas libraries. Cowboys and the Songs They Sang was chosen one of 15 best children's books of the year by the New York Times. The Man Who Had His Hair Cut Short received an award for translation from the Belgian government.