Historical accuracy is my great interest in writing. I'm used to hard work: US Army veteran, a BS degree in education (IUP) and masters in history (Penn State). Professionally, I taught history in public schools and college, was awarded a National Endowment of the Humanities fellowship, Pennsylvania Distinguished Teacher of the Year by the National Geographic Society and Windber varsity girls basketball Somerset County Coach of the Year, as well as serving on the Board of Directors in historical and genealogical societies in Bedford and Somerset counties.
To enhance my knowledge, I was an 18th century re-enactor (French, British, Seneca/Cayuga/Lenape) at most of the F&I War historic sites in the U.S. and Canada and an occasional F&I model for artists John Buxton and Robert Griffing. I became proficient in wilderness canoe trekking, with multiple expeditions in the Algonquin Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada and Boundary Waters, Minnesota. I learned carpentry, plumbing and masonry/stonecutting from experts, and with the help of my father and friends, built my own house, barn and two cottages. My wife and I were owners/operators of vacation rentals for fifteen years, maintaining trails and the forty-five acres of forest we lived on in Somerset County PA. My most enjoyable experience was a re-enactor extra in the filming of The Last of the Mohicans, performing as a French or British soldier for five weeks on location at Lake James near Morganton, North Carolina in 1991. I've visited the Yucatan and many European countries. Formal retirement was in 2020 with a move to Oberlin, Ohio. My current project is enhancing skills at writing history/historical and dark fiction while enjoying the beauty of northeast Ohio with my wife, Deb Barman. I have the greatest pride in my children and grandchildren. There is nothing more important. As a member of The Authors Guild and an Associate Member of the Horror Writers Association, I make every attempt to follow its policy on copyrights.