I was born and Raised in Michigan, the son of a Kentucky coal miner. Like thousands of others, my parents were forced to move from their home in the mountains when the coal mines modernized. Every long weekend or vacation found us on the long journey from the flatlands of southern Michigan to the mountains of Kentucky, My summers were spent in Harlan and Bell County, running around with my cousins and picking green beans in my grandmother garden. This is the root of my fascination and love of the south. I would like to believe that my writing style was inspired by Steinbeck and Hemmingway. But the pulp detective novels of Mickey Spillane and Edward S. Aarons, which I devoured at much too young an age, probably had more to do with who I am as a writer.
