I was born in Georgia, and I’m proud to be a Georgia Peach, though I didn’t live there very long because my father was just there in training as a Marine pilot. The rest of my family is from Iowa, but I didn’t live there long, either. My home is San Diego, and that’s where I grew up, with what I now know to be a magical childhood. I didn’t appreciate it until I went away to college at UCLA. I’ve kept trying to leave over the years, but I always came home, which is surprising to me since I always loved travel, and visiting new places, different countries. I always thought I’d settle some place far away.

I studied French and Spanish through high school. I lived in Mexico City for a summer and attended school there, in Spanish. After four years in school, I could conjugate verbs, but I really learned to speak Spanish when I had to make myself understood, one way or another. I studied Swedish at UCLA, and lived in Europe for a year. I learned Italian at a course for “foreigners” in Florence, and making friends with the local Italians after class. With French and Spanish, Italian wasn’t difficult, but I was told I speak Italian with a Spanish accent! I can get along in French, and German I learned as I traveled, making friends along the way. I know a few words of Greek, Russian, and Chinese.

Besides writing the stories about Alex Cort’s adventures, I love to play the banjo. I play Earl Scrugg’s three-finger style. I sculpt two-dimensional bas-relief portraits of exotic and domestic animals. I used to sculpt lost-wax style bronze zoo animals, but I found their faces were more interesting to me, so I switched to portraits. I play the piano a little—a shame after so many years of lessons! I play Irish fiddle, and intermediate-level violin (same instrument, different attitude). And I love to spin alpaca fiber into yarn. After all my wool is spun, I will make hats and socks to donate to the Veterans Hospital.

I like Agatha Christie and Ernest Hemingway, of course; Mary Stewart, Dick Francis, James Herriot and I read a lot of the new authors on Kindle.

I want to take readers on an adventure. I draw pictures with words to draw them in and lose themselves in another, magical world. I’d like them to come to love the characters, and be sorry when the story is over. I wanted to write entertaining stories for everyone who’d like to learn something interesting about this world, its people, and their myths and legends. I also wanted to write stories with positive adult role models for the younger readers who enjoy a good adventure.