iPhone, but I'm looking at Kindle Fire.

Publisher email campaigns, social network announcements and networking.

I grew up along the Florida coast and went to school abroad for five years when I was still in my early teens. It was a wake-up call from being a beach loving kid with only typical American experiences, to going to school in a foreign country and seeing the U.S. from a whole different perspective. It matured me, but also sparked my imagination.

Professionally only the last ten years or so. But I've written stories and directed whole movies in my head since I was probably eight years old. It was just a matter of time and discipline. Writing is hard work you know.

Under a Pacific Sun takes place in a very interesting time, just after WWII, in the South China Sea region around Hong Kong and the Philippines. America was the new super power on the block and China, our former ally was in the midst of civil war between nationalists and communism and not very happy the US had her surrounded by air and naval bases. Pirates, drug running, slavery and other privateering was flourishing around the islands in a power vacuum and era of lawlessness. It was the Wild West of the South Pacific. My characters think they're getting away from the horrors of war, but are caught in the midst of a new power struggle between warring factions that threaten to tear the region apart again.

I love writing historical fiction. I start with research about a rich background of real world events and places and drop bold and colorful characters onto this stage. The characters come to life and drive my stories. It's fascinating to see where they take me and I more often than not, I feel like I'm just reporting on their exploits.

I have a number of vignettes roughed out for probably twenty new books. I'm also hard at work on the sequel to Under a Pacific Sun called Madam Chin's revenge.

I have a lot of favorite authors in different genres. In Sci-Fi, I like some of the old guard like Robert Heinlein, Isaac Asimov, Ben Bova, Robert Silverberg and of course Frank Herbert. In historical fiction, I like James Clavell, Michner and Tom Wolfe. I could go on.

Mostly coffee. Actually, I have lots of interests besides writing. My wife and I lead an active life. But writing keeps my mind busy and sometimes at the oddest of hours, I have just have to sit down and whack out a few pages to get my day started on the right creative wavelength.

I enjoy flying and get out whenever I can. I'm a voracious reader and so I do a lot of that. My wife and I love good food and wine and she's a culinary school grad, so she likes to create in the kitchen and I love pretty much everything she cooks. We like to travel and we plan on doing a lot more of that soon.

Like most reader I have my favorite genres and authors. So if I'm in a book store, I go to familiar shelves. Shopping online is much easier and I look at authors other readers like who read the stuff I read. But sometimes a lazy afternoon in a bookstore and the feel and smell of a good book trumps it all.

I don't know any authors who don't enjoy hearing from people who read and enjoy their work. Conversations about plots and characters over a good whiskey or a fine bottle of wine are especially satisfying.