About Me
Let's Get Acquainted
I am a gentleman rancher, retired firefighter (41 years), and retired technologist (26 years) who now lives his dream as a paramedic and EMS educator. Lately, I occasionally write fiction. The problem is there is very little spare time these days so please be patient with me.
My wife and I reside in "centrally isolated" Texas on our Domarja Mesa Ranch. I graduated a long time ago from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign with a degree in Electrical Engineering after which I began a successful career spanning nearly three decades in the semiconductor industry. I had the pleasure of working for three great corporations and alongside many wonderful people around the world at Motorola-Austin, VLSI Technology in San Antonio, and then Philips NV. I left the semiconductor industry at just the right time to pursue other interests, one of which is writing fiction, another is public service.
Having grown up with a burning desire to be a firefighter, I found my way there by volunteering my time to the fire service starting in 1981. I retired as a Captain at a fire department and a paramedic 1st-responder. If the call required more technical skills, I was certified to the level of Vertical Rescue Technician 3, Flood & Swiftwater Technician 2, and vehicular extrication meaning I got to use, among other exciting tools, the "Jaws of Life," which, I must say, sounds a lot more sexy than making semiconductor chips.
I began my foray into pre-hospital medicine in 1982 as an ECA, then becoming an EMT-Basic in 1986, and EMT-Intermediate in 1998, and a paramedic in 2004 with certifications as a Licensed Paramedic and EMS Coordinator (only 0.6% of the ~74,000 medics in Texas achieve Coordinator status) with the Texas Department of State Health Services, and Paramedic with National Registry of EMTs. I am also a [restricted] Emergency Medical Dispatch instructor. I currently work as a paramedic for a 911 EMS service to discharge my medical ministry and I run my own EMS training program to guide future medics down my path.
If that wasn't enough, now that I am "retired" - insert laughter here - I play with (translation = repair and maintain) my own vintage fire truck.
So how did I start writing? Extensive business travel and dead time at the EMS ststion gave me opportunities to begin jotting down thoughts and memories of the adventure of international travel to Asia and Europe and interacting with fabulous people from many different cultures speaking a myriad of languages. These notes took on an exotic, international flare. I began integrating a medical theme in keeping with my second career. After moving to the beautiful Texas Hill Country, a western/cowboy theme was added. Mix in a few of my legendary martinis and before long, the beginnings of my first novel, Boundaries, began to take shape. Then, in the summer of 2006, I experienced Dippin’ Dots® for the first time at Chicago’s Brookfield Zoo. It is rightfully said that inspiration comes at the most unexpected moments. Well, that was the catalyst for completing the book in the summer of 2008. You’ll have to read it to find out why!
I published my debut novel, In Search of the Fuller Brush Man, in December of 2010, my second, Vinegarone, in October of 2012, and Boundaries, the novel that started it all, in September of 2013. In 2014, I launched my Cat Kavanagh Mystery Series.
Some family challenges and health issues have slowed me down in recent years. I am a cancer survivor. My plans are to continue with my Cat Series and I really want to do a sequel to Boundaries.
