I have deep midwestern roots in Scandinavian Lutheranism. Raised in Upsala, Minnesota, in the heart of Lake Wobegon country, I participated in many activities in my small K-12 school. I truly had a golden childhood.
In the fall of ’66, I matriculated at Dartmouth College. In ’69-70 I served as an Army Ranger in Vietnam, receiving a pair of bronze stars for valor in combat. After discharge, I returned to Dartmouth and obtained my BA degree in ’72 in history.
Then, it was back to Minnesota and law school. I received a JD degree from the University of Minnesota in ’75, and entered the private practice of law in St. Cloud, Minnesota as a civil trial attorney for the next twenty four years, retiring in ’99 to pursue a business opportunity in Caribbean tourism. In the early 90’s, I spent a couple of years, part-time, as a graduate student with the Benedictines of St John’s School of Theology in nearby Collegeville, Minnesota. It was then that I first considered a novel about Paul, and the idea festered until I finally put pen to paper a few years ago, resulting in the publication of A Wretched Man in 2010.
Lynn and I recently celebrated our fiftieth wedding anniversary, and we have three adult children and two granddaughters.
In January 2014, Pilgrim Press, the oldest publishing house in America, published Queer Clergy: A History of Gay and Lesbian Ministry in American Protestantism, which was a 2015 finalist for a Minnesota Book Award. A series of short stories based upon my Vietnam experience was originally released as Prowl, but new chapters have been added and re-released as Gonna Stick My Sword in the Golden Sand: A Vietnam Soldier’s Story. After many requests, the sequel to A Wretched Man, entitled Wormwood and Gall, the Destruction of Jerusalem and the First Gospel, was published in 2019. Wormwood was named a finalist for the 2020 Midwest Book Award in the Religion/Philosophy category. Inspired by my Scandinavian immigrant roots, Lost in the Land of Milk and Honey was released in 2022.
In the fall of ’66, I matriculated at Dartmouth College. In ’69-70 I served as an Army Ranger in Vietnam, receiving a pair of bronze stars for valor in combat. After discharge, I returned to Dartmouth and obtained my BA degree in ’72 in history.
Then, it was back to Minnesota and law school. I received a JD degree from the University of Minnesota in ’75, and entered the private practice of law in St. Cloud, Minnesota as a civil trial attorney for the next twenty four years, retiring in ’99 to pursue a business opportunity in Caribbean tourism. In the early 90’s, I spent a couple of years, part-time, as a graduate student with the Benedictines of St John’s School of Theology in nearby Collegeville, Minnesota. It was then that I first considered a novel about Paul, and the idea festered until I finally put pen to paper a few years ago, resulting in the publication of A Wretched Man in 2010.
Lynn and I recently celebrated our fiftieth wedding anniversary, and we have three adult children and two granddaughters.
In January 2014, Pilgrim Press, the oldest publishing house in America, published Queer Clergy: A History of Gay and Lesbian Ministry in American Protestantism, which was a 2015 finalist for a Minnesota Book Award. A series of short stories based upon my Vietnam experience was originally released as Prowl, but new chapters have been added and re-released as Gonna Stick My Sword in the Golden Sand: A Vietnam Soldier’s Story. After many requests, the sequel to A Wretched Man, entitled Wormwood and Gall, the Destruction of Jerusalem and the First Gospel, was published in 2019. Wormwood was named a finalist for the 2020 Midwest Book Award in the Religion/Philosophy category. Inspired by my Scandinavian immigrant roots, Lost in the Land of Milk and Honey was released in 2022.
My Favourite Genres
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