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.  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). 

            Being over 70, 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 less than 700 words.  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.