I was about five years old, and after several trips to the local public library with my mother to choose a few books, I figured I could do a better job storytelling, so I started writing short stories. I kept that up through high school, but when the draft caught up with me, I ran out of any leisure time to write.

"Lonesome Cove" is the fourth novel in the Terry Rankin series. Terry finds himself with a new client; Gianni Lupo is an elderly hit man for the Mob, convicted of killing two other mobsters following a gold heist in the Port of Miami. Lupo has just been released from Federal prison, where he served a full twenty-five years. He owns property on Sanibel, and needs bodyguards to keep him safe in his few remaining years. Terry is not comfortable with the client, but the money is good and the duty should prove to be something of a vacation for his people. Bodyguard to an old man? How hard can that be?

Authors who sign with agents and publishing houses are nothing more than prey. It shouldn't be that way, but it is. Living as an independent author has it's drawbacks, but win, lose or draw, the state of your future is up to you.

Smashwords offers me options for distribution that I have not had before. Lots of markets - lots of readers, rather - that I have not yet reached. I'm looking forward to a long and profitable relationship with Smashwords.

Letters from readers. Some critical, most very complimentary. I write about Florida; the state is always a major player in my novels, in that the environment affects how people behave. Florida has lots and lots of environment, and I can play with that. My characters don't like it, but that's just too bad for them. In many of the letters I receive, readers say they plan to visit many of the sites I describe in my writing so they can walk through the action in the book they read. I like that.

Fans are everything. Fans are why I write. I am a 'commercial' writer, in that I write for a living. Don't look for me to pen the next "Great American Novel". I am not an 'artist' and do not associate with artists. Those folks are just way to weird for me. I write for my readers. I write to entertain them.

My fifth novel is right about two years overdue. I took a year off after publishing "Lonesome Cove", figuring I needed a break after putting out four novels one after the other. I was right to do that; I was wrong in how I went about it. I got involved in Life; I got busy doing stuff and making friends and getting to know an Arabian horse too well. I am working on "Standing Wave", I promise. And I promise the wait will be worth it.