Mine was a childhood blissfully misspent riding my bike without a helmet, playing sandlot baseball without an umpire (and keeping score), and exploring the back woods, ravines and creeks at the very edge of the urban sprawl of civilization in suburban St. Louis completely unsupervised.  

Being "just too darn loud" for the music conservatory, I majored in Philosophy & English and made noise at night with my Les Paul guitar and Marshal amp in bars.  Free time was spent getting a pilot's license and advanced ratings.

I am the author of the novels My Brother's Keeper and In the Black.  I'm an irregular contributor to the Mudcat Falls Times-Herald-Post-Picayune-Press-Gazette-Tribune and edit the Citizen's Desk Reference & Diagnostic Manual.

I reside on America's North Coast.  When I'm not working, scribbling or pushing air in some gin joint, you'll find me playing hooky turning gasoline into noise with an airplane a thousand feet AGL -- give or take.