About Me
I love collecting and telling stories.
For as long as I can remember, tales – real and speculative – have infiltrated my daily thoughts. From the larger-than-life presence of characters in my family and community to the imaginary backstories of the dogs at a shelter, my mind teems with these narratives. And at an early age I learned that my love of stories isn’t simply about their arc or meaning, it is also about the words themselves. Syllables, words and phrases find their way into my consciousness and get stuck there. They rattle around in my thoughts – coins in a coffee can – their rhythms and tones mesmerizing until I find a way for them to escape.
As a practicing attorney, words have been my most valuable tool for over a quarter century. Words have allowed me to provide for my family. But the itch to tell stories is not scratched by drafting a contract. And so I have tried, when and where possible, to continue telling tales through blogs (thestraightmaleknitter and HoochLaw), articles for various legal journals and trade magazines, and quite a lot of poetry. I finished my first novel, HERBVANA, in 2023. Work is currently underway on my second novel (tentatively titled The Commitment) – anticipated to be complete in 2024.
Current Work
HERBVANA
“It was a mutually beneficial arrangement – symbiotic in the way of the dung beetle and the ungulates of the Serengeti although precisely who was who in that metaphor was occasionally difficult to determine.”
HERBVANA is a comedic thriller set in the days following Washington state’s legalization of recreational marijuana. Barry Jones is an illicit weed farmer who wants to go legitimate. Marshall Owens is a shady lawyer operating out of a strip-mall and looking for a payday. When they join forces to open Herbvana the cash begins flowing in but things soon turn deadly.
UPDATE – October 25, 2023. HERBVANA now available for pre-order on Bookshop.org, B&N and Amazon. I anticipate it will also be on the shelves of a few local independent bookshops. If you’re inclined to grab a copy – I’d love it if you supported one of those shops (any of which can order it if they don’t have it in stock). Consider stopping by Eagle Harbor Book Co., Saltwater Bookshop, or Liberty Bay Books – they’re a few of my favorites. And if you want to buy it on the jungle website, you can do that here.
