Years ago, a group of friends in LA allowed me to join their writer's group. The assignment was simple: write a few chapters, meet once a month at the Fox and Hound, talk about each other's work over dinner and a few pints, then play darts and drink a few more pints well into the night. It was a golden period in my life, and I have them to thank for sparking my interest in writing.

I grew up in a quaint small town in Illinois called Georgetown with one stop light, one high school, one square, one lake, one police car and hundreds of ways to get into trouble. It was a wonderful place to be a child. I studied at the University of Illinois and later moved to Southern California with my wife and children to work in the music business. This is my first published novel.

TAL