Gifford Keen

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About Gifford Keen
I'm fifty four years old and when people at parties ask me that dreaded, "So what do you do" question, I often tell them I'm a retired software geek, reluctant landlord, and aspiring novelist. I have a liberal arts degree from St. John's College in Santa Fe and I've had careers as a software executive, a CEO, and a real estate investor. But I've also worked as an apple picker, carpenter, and plumber. I've climbed in the Joshua Tree, built cutting-edge databases to support high-throughput DNA sequencing at pharmaceutical companies, and lived in a log cabin with no electricity or running water that I built with my own hands.
In addition to co-authoring Prodigal Father Wayward Son with my father (Sam Keen – bestselling author of Fire in the Belly), I've written six novels: two thrillers, three mysteries, and (voted least likely to ever be published), a half-vampire-detective novel. All are currently unpublished, but the last two did receive more than a dozen absolutely glowing rejections from top editors at big publishing houses - I'm talking something that could have gone on the back cover, right up until the... "but." I'm currently working on a more serious novel about the differences between romantic-adolescent-in-love type love and long-term-committed-married type love with a working title of "Longing." I'm happiest backpacking in the high country or spending time with my family, and I currently manage a dozen rental properties in Santa Fe - which is hardly enough to keep the mind alive, but it gives me time to write, meditate, and practice yoga.
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Author Updates
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Blog postOne of the hardest parts of writing Prodigal Father Wayward Son was figuring out how to organize all of the chapters – and which to keep and which to leave out. One of our early themes centered around epic fights we had had. This didn’t work out in the end, but here’s an account of one of our worst fights. Initially we each wrote our own version, and it wasn’t until later that we decided to interleave the narrative. So here it is, the battle of the Chicken Coop told fr7 years ago Read more
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Blog postHi All (or few as the case may be),
Here’s a sarcastic letter I wrote my dad while we were working on the book together. We were going to include it as part of the book, but like a lot of good material we wrote, it didn’t make the final cut.
Hope you enjoy it – I sure did :–)
Wayward Son (Gifford)
Dear Father,
Just today you sent me a letter suggesting I write an essay for the book on “How I Learned to Love Work,” and that I should7 years ago Read more -
Blog postDear Readers,
Today is the official launch of Prodigal Father Wayward Son, and it is also April Fools Day – which seems somehow appropriate. So to celebrate this confluence of events I am posting a chapter from the from the book entitled “The Keen Way” which recounts a spattering of my father’s most foolish and endearing foibles.
Hope you like it,
Wayward Son (Gifford Keen)
THE KEEN WAY
Every man has his folly, but the greatest folly of7 years ago Read more -
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Blog postPosted by ProdigalFather:
Here’s something I wrote many years ago when one of Gif’s close friends was killed in a motorcycle accident. It was originally part of Prodigal Father Wayward Son, but we had to cut a lot of great stories for length constraints – this is one of them. We hope you like it.
Sam Keen.
MORTALITY
“There is not love of life without despair about life.”
Albert Camus
Full moon in autumn, the aspens turning gold, Wint7 years ago Read more -
Blog postWayward Son Posting:
Here’s a letter I wrote my dad that was originally part of the book and didn’t make the final cut. But we both liked it. Let me know what you think.
Gifford
Dearest Father,
Over the last few days, my thoughts have been drawn back to our last phone call time and again. I wonder if you have any idea how profound it was for me.
You were in a good mood when we spoke, not rushed or distracted. We talked about the book, how to move forward,7 years ago Read more -
Blog postHow can we change the past with storytelling? This is one of the underlying themes of my father’s and my book, Prodigal Father Wayward Son.
But what does this mean?
To understand how storytelling can rewire our past, we have to think about memory.
Every time we remember something, we change the past. Not just metaphorically, but chemically, physically, in our brains.
I used to think of my memories as if they were files stored on a hard drive of a computer: take7 years ago Read more -
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Blog postHere’s a letter I wrote my dad that was originally part of the book and didn’t make the final cut. But we both liked it. Let me know what you think.
Dearest Father,
Over the last few days, my thoughts have been drawn back to our last phone call time and again. I wonder if you have any idea how profound it was for me.
You were in a good mood when we spoke, not rushed or distracted. We talked about the book, how to move forward, what we were working on, and we spoke of our7 years ago Read more -
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Titles By Gifford Keen
Prodigal Father, Wayward Son contains exceptionally evocative and entertaining storytelling: tales of marriage and divorce, misadventure and drugs, rebellion, abandonment, renewal, and ultimately new-millennium reconciliation. Sam, a stubborn, traditional academic, and Gif, a free-thinking, introspective surfer, repeatedly clash, make up, evolve, adapt, and rediscover their love as they collectively realize the acutely current message of Prodigal Father, Wayward Son. It marks the culmination of an exceptional writing career.