First off, I want to thank you, T.C.
It’s great that you took time from your busy schedule to talk to me.
Can
you tell us a little bit about yourself?
I’ll try to be brief, but I’ve had a
pretty busy life. I spent twenty-four years in the Air Force as a personnel
superintendent. I’ve studied Hakkoryu Jujitsu since the seventies, and operated
my own dojo, (school), for twenty-five years. I was a manufacturer’s field
representative for fifteen years after I retired from the Air Force. My wife,
Jake, and I travelled the country demonstrating woodworking equipment, and
later, telescoping flagpoles at home and garden shows, woodworking shows,
fairs, and trade shows. I’ve also been a free-lance writer since the seventies,
doing articles and advertising agency copy.
When did you first
realize you wanted to be a writer?
It may sound like a cliché, but I think I
was born as a writer. My first published piece was a poem that appeared in the
“Toledo Blade” newspaper when I was about eleven or twelve. Much of my early
work was lost in an accident in the seventies, but I still have copies of some.
(Some of which was amateur, at best).
What inspires you to
write and why?
I wish I had a simple answer, but I don’t.
Ideas come to me, and I feel compelled to explore where they might take me, the
reader, and the character. Of course, selling my work also helps!
Why did you choose the
genre you write in?
I really haven’t chosen a specific genre.
“BlackJack Bomber” has been called a military, action, suspense, mystery, spy,
young adult, and adventure novel. I have also written science fiction,
time-travel, and am currently outlining a philosophical time travel-piece that
involves Native Americans and mountain climbers. I want to explore zombie work,
but Joe McKinney does such a great job, I would have trouble following his act.
Why did you choose to
write this particular book?
The idea started out as a horror/mystery
piece with the working title “Northern California Story”, back in the early
eighties. I couldn’t find the right hooks for it. Later, I was stationed at
Mather Air Force Base in Rancho Cordova, Ca., where I happened to meet a great
military novelist, Dale Brown. He encouraged me to write, and, consequently,
“BlackJack Bomber” began to take shape. I had to wait until four back surgeries
took me out of the workplace to find time to finish it.
Have you started another
book yet?
Many. The sequel to “BlackJack Bomber” is
“BlackStar Bay”. It continues the exploits of the “BlackStar Ops Group, and should
be available mid-spring of 2013.
What
do you do when you are not writing?
Research, and also promote my work. As you
know, book signings and promotions occupy an inordinate amount of any writer’s
time. I spend time promoting other writers and their work, like Ken Farmer and
Buck Stienke. I enjoy reading their military fiction, but am currently
engrossed in their historical fiction piece, “The Nations”. It’s set here in
Oklahoma, very near where I live. I also have three grandchildren, and a loving
family who keep me busy.
How and where can we
purchase your book?
It’s currently on Amazon.com, in
paperback, and e-book, and at Barnes&Noble.com in paperback. It will be out
before long in other venues. It can also be ordered at any book store.
Visit T.C.:
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