I grew up in the Sandhills section of North Carolina, the land of fine golf courses (think Pinehurst #2, site of the last U. S. Open), peach orchards, and at the time, cotton mills and cotton farms. Many of the mills and farms are gone now, but the orchards and golf courses remain. It is a sunny pleasant land that I have returned to and call my home. I have always loved books and have written for many, many years, but now, and for the past several years, with more focus and effort. I have published a novel (Night Work) and have written many, many poems. Local literary magazines have published some of the poems, but chapbooks are in the near future. One will be about my life as a sailor; another, about growing up in the Sandhills. Readers have universally praised my novel, saying it is hard to put down. Curt Mellam, the protagonist, an executive, widower and for five years a single parent, hits a streak of bad luck just as Karen, his beloved only daughter, prepares to enter college. Curt faces a new gritty life that forces him to rethink his priorities and principles as he helps solve a murder. He and Karen adapt and end seeing the life changes as blessings in disguise. Writing the novel helped me in my own thinking about life and what I want to do. I like the way Elmore Leonard, Russell Baker, Larry Brown write, but the truth is that most every book I pick up, I enjoy. So, making choices about reading gets hard. The same is true about poets; there are so many good ones, it is hard to chose one.

I served three and half years in the U. S. Navy as an officer on minesweepers. Typically minesweepers go into and sweep passages into foreign or vanquished-enemy territories before any other ships are allowed in, as well as lead in invasions. My chapbook about being a sailor-minesweeper will be titled Sea Chanteys. A few shipmates have already read drafts of it and liked it. It brings back memories for them, of course, so it isn't surprising that they enjoyed it. The general public, coming next, is another problem all together.