The author was born in Kansas and educated in the Midwest, West, Southwest, and in Taiwan. He was a high school dropout in 1958 and finished his Ph.D. 1974--he took some time out to finish high school and keep the Communists out of Malibu. He is a two-tour Vietnam veteran and has worked in government, private industry, and has been self-employed. He has lived in Kansas, California, Florida, Idaho, Utah, Wyoming, Colorado, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, Tokyo, Taipei, Arizona, and Montana. He once owned a beef jerky factory. He is the co-founder and former Grand Cultivator of the International Ag-Psych Society. He writes fiction and lives in suburban Maryland.