When Charlie discovered that he was not going to become rich working at a Seattle dot-com company, he decided he needed a fresh challenge, and his wife Kathy knew just what to do: move away from the land of rain and lattes back to her home state of Michigan. Charlie agreed, and off they went. But it wasn't easy. New family, new work, and new surroundings confused and delighted Charlie, and to cope with it all he began to write letters to friends back home. That's where Burning Embersstarted, and from there it grew into a collection of comic and sometimes poignant stories of a husband and wife trying to make a marriage, career, and life together. Come join Charlie and Kathy in these pages. Bring a latte (they have those in Michigan now, thank God) and get a ready to laugh. CHARLIE CLOSE is a man of many talents, most of which will not be demonstrated in this book. He is midway through a career in the information technology industry where he was promoted to regional manager, a position he held for one day. He worked in a Pacific Northwest dot-com company for which he did not make millions of dollars from stock options, and moved to the Midwest shortly after the company was defeated in the marketplace by its main competitor. Other notable accomplishments include tenure as the drummer for a Seattle grunge band that never had a name and performed only once outside the guitarist's basement, as well as authorship of two award winning poems not printed here. He has held a Super Bowl ring in the palm of his hand, although not one belonging to a player you would have heard of. Charlie lives with his wife Kathy in southeastern Michigan.
Charlie grew up in Washington State, where he worked as a software engineer and professional services consultant for a dot-com company. In 2003 he moved to his wife's home state of Michigan and continues to work in software. His first book, "Burning Embers", is a funny collection of short husband-and-wife stories.
Charlie has published two volumes of very short stories, "Kites and Weddings" and "Rough & Beautiful", as well as "The Art of the Very Short Story", a how-to book for very short story writers.
He is at work on his first novel, planned for publication in 2012.
