A few words about the Author, beginning with publishing my first story as an 8th grader in my local (Defense Department school in Italy) high school’s literary magazine. My protagonist alien assumed a dog’s form, wrongly believing the canine was the dominant terrestrial species, then reporting to his bosses on the home world about his subjugation inside his human masters’ household. That story won a prize, and I received additional encouragement from English professors in college, so I naively believed I’d undertake a writer’s life after college. While I hosted a few adult writing workshops during the 1970s during my librarian’s phase, my own writing output stalled.
By the end of that decade, my path carried me into marriage and parenthood while concurrently working as an attorney, a law and ethics professor, a State of Arizona public official, and a City of Phoenix administrative hearing officer. As I taught, I became a “pragmatic scholar,” meaning I thought academic journal writing might instruct students as well as impressing peers. (Such a knot-head, this one!) Nonetheless, I published 30 articles and essays in trade and academic publications on topics in real estate law, municipal administration, and urban planning. My two non-fiction books on leasing law were published in 2012 and 2018. Fishbein, Ascending was conceived in the 1990s, and its initial draft was completed before either of my two published works.
I’ve two additional novels (a 19th and 20th Century piece based in the mid-South and another Fishbein escapade) in early draft stages. I’ll have to get on my horse and have good fortune to be ready to share these works over the next few years. That’s my story.