I’ve lived what some say is a far-ranging and adventurous life. As an Army brat traipsing across America, two years in Bolivia and much of South America, leading medical mission teams into Central America during the war years, and finally much of Switzerland, Italy, Germany, Austria, France, Italy and finally Tanzania I simply love to travel.

I’m an avid outdoorsman who enjoys hiking, river rafting, mountain climbing, and skiing. Whether hiking the Grand Canyon, rafting the tumultuous Colorado river, wending through the Narrows in Zion National Park, or enjoying the Enchantment Lakes in Washington, I’ve been constantly humbled by the majesty of nature. I had the privilege to summit Mt. Kilimanjaro in Tanzania and travel the great Serengeti plains, stand atop California’s Mt. Whitney and Washington’s Mt. Rainier and summit numerous peaks throughout the Cascades Range in both Oregon and Washington. Climbing the via Ferrata in the Italian Dolomites to viewing the island monastery on Skellig Michael off the Irish Atlantic coast remain powerful memories.

My years as a Surgical resident, heavy on trauma and burns followed by deeply meaningful years practicing emergency room medicine remain highlights in my professional life. A yearning to study philosophical theology, however, proved too hard to resist and I entered seminary and subsequently taught Science and Theology at a small liberal arts college in Los Angeles. I returned to fitness after a terrible back injury and developed a new approach to physical therapy relieved back pain and restored healthy function (and got me back in the mountains and skiing the steep and deep!)

I thrill to the teachings of the Danish-born Existentialist Soren Kierkegaard and Carl Jung, who with Sigmund Freud, birthed modern psychology.

I am a father and grandfather, with three children and five amazing grandchildren (aren’t they all?). I live in a small town southeast of Portland in Oregon’s premier wine country with my soul mate Ellen. For fun I help provide wine tours for folks from all over the world with a taste for exquisite Willamette Valley Chardonnays and Pinot Noirs. I enjoy whiskey, strong French-pressed Italian roast, cigars and an occasional pipe.

In developing my characters for Blood Sapphire’s Revenge, and its sequel Blood Sapphire’s Fury, I’ve drawn inspiration from these experiences and sources and what they can reveal in one’s character and soul.

““This striking, fast-paced tale traverses the globe with worthy heroes and tenacious baddies.””
– Kirkus Reviews