Charles W Jones

I grew up in a town of 500 people--Shoshoni, WY. It's the Center of the Universe, or so I thought growing up since it is in the exact center of the state. We had a quite a few "characters" in our town and it was one of those places that everyone knows your business. The thing that stuck with me the most was, how dark it was at night. I was a jumpy kid at night. Anything that moved in the dark, any sound made my heart pound in my chest. Thunder had the same effect. My first book, The Second Plain, was extremely influenced by that town. Most of it is actually set there. Darkness is a deep influence for me and I have Shoshoni to thank for it.

My first short story was in the 2nd grade in 1977. My teacher was very impressed with it and thought it a wonderful story. It was supposed to be about something happy that happened over summer, I think. Well mine was a complete lie. (I laugh writing this.) It was about waking up one morning with the sun shining brightly, going to the mailbox to find a letter from my grandmother saying she was coming to town that day (she lived in Minnesota, so it was possible that I'd get the letter the same day see arrived.)