Born in 1956 in Philadelphia, and currently residing in Berwick Pennsylvania in the heart of coal country, Andrew Shecktor has authored a number of short manuscripts and articles of fiction and non-fiction over his 40 year part time writing career. He worked as a technical writer for ECRI, a medical device evaluation firm in Plymouth Meeting, PA. He assisted his mother, Maria C. Shecktor (deceased), published author of children's books, and former associate editor of Holiday Magzine, with her adult class on creative writing. She has been his inspiration for his writing. He is a self-taught fine artist in oil, acrylic and pastel, and is a member of the North Mountain Art League. He is also an amateur photographer, an art he learned from his father, Fred Kerek Shecktor (deceased), who was the public relations director for the city of Philadelphia in the 1960's. The author is a sales consultant and an electrical engineer by trade and has worked as a biomedical equipment engineer in charge of several major city hospitals. Recently he has worked in the computer industry and website services. He has also been involved in the political arena both as support staff and as a candidate for office. He has a keen interest in ghost hunting and the study of scientific anomalies, believing, ahead of his time, in the idea of quantum oddities. In his own words, "We are in general extremely narrow minded. We think that ours is the one real and true reality. Our science is accurate and cannot be displaced. In fact, we are wrong. There is far more to this world and this universe than our tiny minds will ever be able to conceive. Our science is based on that narrow spectrum of knowledge which we are permitted to see and touch with our hands and our instruments. We search for alien radio waves, yet why would aliens communicate using radio waves, when communication could be instantaneous via quantum or other techniques which we cannot yet even begin to conceive. We view ourselves as solid beings and our world as being the same, when in fact the more you magnify a person, a rock, or even the air; the smaller you look, the more you will find that we are really nothing but energy and empty space. There is really no such thing as matter. Could there not be other beings that differ significantly from us? Perhaps even beings of pure energy. Perhaps there are indeed gods and demons and even other universes filled with beings far different than us that interact with the universe and perceive the universe differently from us." In the spring of 2014 he published his first short novel, "Centralia PA, Devils Fire." The novel is a unique combination of history and fiction, including metaphorical demons being battled by metaphorical heroes that represent the battle between the poor, overworked coal miner and the wealthy, greedy mine owners and operators. The book is currently on sale online and at a number of local venues in and around Centralia.