About

Back in the pre-pandemic days, I enjoyed getting out of my writing cave and speaking to readers directly. At Book Expo in New York City, I had a chance to talk to readers and give away some books. Dartfrog Books was distributing my books to bookstores. Now, readers can still order my books from their favorite bookstore, but most of my sales are coming from online retailers.

Here’s a little about me.

I took the photo on the previous page when I was Lisbon, doing research for a book. Learning languages is one of my hobbies. I speak passable Spanish and German and can get by in French. This language fetish is driven my desire to communicate.

I love to cook and am more or less always trying to lose weight. Nature inspires me and restores my spirits. You can find me hiking in the foothills of California or camping in Arizona’s high country. I love the red rocks of Sedona and waves crashing against the cliffs of Point Reyes.

To keep from thinking about whether I need to put in a load of laundry or run to the grocery store, I hang out in coffee shops. Quite often I eavesdrop, and these overheard stories form the basis for my short fiction.

Before my kids went off to college, I worked as a carpenter, but I’ve actually been writing for more than fifty years. I have a Master’s in English/Creative Writing from San Francisco State and a Certificate in Novel Writing from Stanford. Recently, I was the Writer-in-Residence for the City of Mesa Public Libraries. I’ve taught writing at Arizona State and presented workshops on writing and marketing books in many places, including ASU’s Desert Nights, Rising Stars’ conference and Northwestern’s Summer Writing Conference.

I’m embarrassed to say that I’m an inveterate grade grubber and “contest enterer,” probably to my detriment. Because I’m never satisfied that my work is ready for publication, I hang onto stuff way too long.

My short stories have won the Barry Hannah Prize, the Ron Rash Award, the Seven Hills Review Prose Prize, the Jeanne M. Leiby Chapbook Award, the American Literary Review Fiction Prize, and the Matt Clark Prize. One of my stories was a runner-up in Calyx’s Margarita Donnelly Prize for Prose Writing.

My debut novel, Montpelier Tomorrow, won a Gold Medal for Drama from the Readers’ Favorites International Book Awards, and it was a finalist for the Bellwether Prize, the Next Generation INDIE Book Awards, and the Eric Hoffer Prize.

Bonds of Love & Blood was a Finalist in Foreword Reviews‘ INDIEFAB Book Awards It also won a Silver Medal for Short Stories from the Readers’ Favorites International Book Awards. Even though I’m mainly consumed by novel-writing, I still love the short story form.

My writing has been published in American Literary Review, Bellevue Literary Review, Calyx, Embark, Folio, Four Quarters, New Delta Review, North Atlantic Review, River Oak Review, Ruminate, Seven Hills Review, StoryQuarterly, Superstition Review, The Briar Cliff Review, The Chattahoochee Review, Yalobusha Review, and many others.