|
|
My first goal was to plot out a novel, and the second to see if I could then write it. Amazingly, it all worked. The result was Desperate Ground, a World War II thriller, based in part on actual events, set in the last days of the war in Germany. In this novel, the cast of characters must deal with issues of death, honor, personal fear and responsibility in wartime. Being new to the publishing world and without a literary agent at that time, I went with a small West Virginia based print-on-demand (POD) publisher for that first novel. The publisher shortly thereafter went out of business, and only a few hundred copies were sold. Caution to aspiring writers; POD is not ready for prime time. Since then I have reworked and revised my first work, and the retooled manuscript, "On Desperate Ground" is now available from my literary agent. Some of the characters created in that first novel were interesting enough to keep alive, so I developed the idea of a historical mystery series, set within the Allied High Command during the Second World War. The first in that series, "Billy Boyle", takes place in England and Norway in 1942. The second, "The First Wave", takes place a few months later during the Allied invasion of French Northwest Africa. Both novels are part of the Billy Boyle World War II Mystery series, published by Soho Press. Soho will be releasing the third installment, "Blood Alone", in September 2008. Another recently completed work is "Souvenir", an exploration of the effects of World War II combat on one man during three stages of his life. I am now working on the fourth title in the Billy Boyle series, tentatively titled "Evil For Evil". I live in Hadlyme, Connecticut, with my wife Deborah Mandel, a psychotherapist who offers many insights into the motivations of my characters, a good critical read, and much else. Our dog Ranger lives with us. We have two sons and seven grandchildren. I'm a graduate of the University of Connecticut and received my MLS degree from Southern Connecticut State University. I am a member of the Mystery Writers of America, and the Author's Guild. I've worked in the library field for over twenty-five years and currently work in educational technology to earn a living so that I can write. Would that it could be otherwise. I've learned two valuable lessons since I started writing which have helped me greatly. The first is a quote from Oscar Wilde, who said "The art of writing is the art of applying the seat of one's pants to a chair." The second is from novelist Rachel Basch, who told me "the story has to move down, as well as forward." Both sound simple. Neither is. For those interested in learning more about writing, I suggest starting with this list of books about reading and writing. The first three are accessible for anyone who wants to read and understand more deeply, as well as learning writing skills. The fourth is for serious students of writing only: Books On Writing |
In 1999 I began writing seriously after a lifetime of wondering
if I could.