I served in Vietnam as a helicopter pilot in the early seventies. I was barely a man, if that at all. While that historical event has become twisted in the telling with self serving political rhetoric and apocryhpal movies, it had an enormous impact on those of us who served and the mothers and fathers and sisters and brothers who waited for us. The cost was extraordinary in lives and pain, along with lost opportunity, hope and love. Not surprisingly, it changed my life. I imagine that's what draws me to writers like DeMille, James Lee Burke, and Robert Crais. Their characters, Keith Landry, Dave Robicheaux and Joe Pike, successfully overcome a damaging adolescence and an indifferent public. But they still walk with a limp. I like to write. I don't think you can write unless you read so to that end, I may read 100 books a year. I normally find something worthwhile in each of them. Rarely, say one book in 50, I'll give up on after 100 pages and write myself a note as to what was the impediment. I have two novels completed, "Short Days, Long Nights" and "Ashes of our Fathers," but so far I only have dozens of rejection letters to show for the effort. Well, that's not entirely true. I can honestly say with pride while it would be nice I don't write to be published. I think you have to take it all in stride. I mean everything. Like Bill Wilson wrote years ago, it really is 'one day at a time.' I wrote this four years ago when I began writing reviews. Not much has changed. A few more grey hairs, a little thicker around the waist. I still have a lovely wife who puts up with my idiosyncratic behavior, and great sons. My oldest son, Colin, is a pilot with Southwest Airlines. I do have three gifted (of course) grandchildren, Sal, Bryant, and Vincent. You can see how the family divided along lines of heritage. My wife Deborah is an RN at a local hospital, looks great in scrubs and I am crazy about her. I love music and am frequently torn between Ludwig Beethoven and Robert Plante. Someday I'll make a decision. But not today. Favorite fiction? Probably Clavell's Shogun and Follet's Pillars. Non-fiction? Anything by Kearns, Charles Van Doren's Book of Knowledge, most of the prodigal Ambrose and Manchester. Oh yes. John Keegan. I find myself enjoying first time writers. William Landay and Michael Gruber come to mind. 30 days off? Hang out with Deborah on some island where there's no e-mail. My father taught me how to read books and be discerning with what I put in my head. The best gift he ever gave me. I miss him. Larry Scantlebury; Ypsilanti, Michigan; 2005