My friends call me Steve, my middle name. I hope I can make you a friend and that I can entertain you with some great stories that reflect a lifetime of experience and imagination.
A Blessed Life
My life has taken several turns over the years, some of them right, some of them wrong. Whichever way I turned I always learned from it and wrote about it. A couple of times I found myself in the middle of history in the making. In 1967 I was assigned to the U.S. Army Public Information Office at Long Binh, South Vietnam. I traveled the country and interviewed the troops from the DMZ to the Mekong River Delta. In 1968 I finished my last year in the Army in San Francisco surrounded by street riots and protests against the Vietnam War and the American military in general. It was a sad year for America, one that I am just now able to write about from the long telescope of hindsight.
After the army I got involved in a study group that explored the paranormal—hypnosis, prenatal regression, spirit channeling, and reincarnation. I will never forget the people in that group. I have written about them in my second novel, The Innocent And The Dead.
My Life Now
The best turn in my life came when I married Joyce Ann Messmore on January 8, 1972. Life has been sweet ever since. Life got even sweeter when our son Darren arrived on October 28, 1973. In January 2010 after I retired, Joyce and I volunteered to mentor elementary school children at Clarks Creek Elementary School in Plainfield, Indiana. We have worked with some great kids, some of them mature far beyond their years, some of them with family issues that broke our hearts. I hope they all learned a lot from us. We have certainly learned a lot from them and their teachers.
Making an Impact
I write books; Joy and I mentor kids to make a difference. I am trying to spark an interest in history and science for young readers ages 8 and above. That includes adults who are still kids at heart.
If you are like me you probably remember reading history in school and being bored with it all. I am trying to change that attitude in kids and adults. History is just what it says it is. It is the HI----STORY. It's an adventure; it's a saga; it's a soap opera. I hope I have added some excitement to history with my books. Six of them feature Fritz, the wise old dove.
Above all I have tried to make history and science fun reading for everybody.
Update!
After a four-year hiatus due to Covid, the Avon Writers Group is back in business. We were together for twenty years and had a great time involving some good friends. We quarantined, got separated, and lost touch. We are meeting again at the Avon Library at 498 N. State Rd. 267 in Avon. Take your pick and join us on Wednesday or Thursday evening from 6-7:30p.m.