I’ve been a member of the Seventh Star family since 2019, and I’m grateful to Holly and Stephen for their support in helping me fulfill this dream. I’d like to tell you a little bit about myself. Okay, maybe not a little, and maybe more than you’ll want to know.

Before I begin – confession time. I tried self-publishing, and to date, I’ve self-published four fantasy novels (the four are part of a series) and a stand-alone murder mystery. All five books are on a shelf somewhere in the world, collecting dust.

I was born and raised in Daviess County, Kentucky. Life was simple. I grew up with outhouses, freshwater springs, wells, hand pumps, coal stoves, and coal grates. We heated our water in buckets on a stove. Being an only child, my closest friends were the cows, chickens, pigs, goats, sheep, turkeys, geese, ducks, and horses my dad kept on our small farm. I hope I didn’t leave anyone out. Farm animals can be so jealous. Our grocery store was mason jars of canned vegetables, vegetables mom grew in her garden.

My dad was a woodsman. You could give him a shotgun, a box of shells, and a book of matches, and he could disappear into the forest for weeks. I used to hunt with him, but I was never the woodsman. I can’t tell you how many squirrels, raccoons, groundhogs, and rabbits I’ve eaten.

My wife, Stephanie, and I have five kids (three boys and two girls) and eleven grandchildren (five boys and six girls).

I turned seventy-one last November, and my aches and pains remind me daily I’m not a spring chicken. Enough on my age.

I’ve had several jobs during my lifetime. When I was thirteen, I had a summer job. I was a soda jerk at Utica Junior High. The school is now defunct. It is not my fault the school went defunct. I used to set out bases and chalk the lines for all the evening baseball games. During the games, I sold soda and candy. I worked five nights a week, and I made, in cash, five dollars a week. If my math’s correct, that’s a dollar a day. When I got paid that first Friday, I bought a croquet set with my five dollars.

As an adult, I started as a Mapper. In other words, I was a draftsman who created maps from surveys. I did that for twenty years. Mapping full-time and going to Brescia College (It’s now a University) at night, I got a BS in Computer Science. Career change. I was a Computer Analyst for twenty years. There came a day when I realized I was the dinosaur of Computer Science. Technology had passed me by. So, I retired. That was in 2014, and I haven’t missed a day working. Truth be known, I do miss the people I worked with.

I’m supposed to keep this short, so I will tease you with two important events that happened in my life – two events that I haven’t already discussed. When we meet each other, don’t hesitate to ask me about them.

Monday, September 6, 1965, was Labor Day, and we were out of school. On that day, I came in contact with a high-voltage powerline. Seven thousand two hundred volts entered my hand and exited my head and my feet. That’s not a typo. It was seven thousand two hundred volts. I was given up for dead for three days. There is a “rest of the story,” as Paul Harvey used to say. Ask me about it whenever we meet.

The second event: September 17, 2017. I was ordained a Permanent Deacon in the Catholic Church. It keeps me busy these days. If you’re not sure what a Permanent Deacon does, google “Permanent Deacon of the Catholic Church.”

There you have it. My life story summed up in 850 words or less. It sounds like a writing contest, doesn’t it? There’s so much I left out. I could tell you about riding the rails or the time I hung myself. But those will have to wait until another time.