Dr Ken, you may be the newest one here, but I am most assuredly the smallest footnote of gun writers. I've only published half a hundred full-length articles in major magazines over the past 20 years, although I have written regular columns for newspapers and magazines. I use my usual sobriquet for everything. I majored in English Lit because it was easy and didn't interfere with my real but disallowed major: ROTC.
I've had three overlapping careers, with writing about to become my fourth. In rough order, I spent 23 years in the Air Force as a combat pilot and instructor pilot, then as a non-flying public affairs officer both active and Reserve. I parlayed that public affairs experience into 15 years total, with paychecks from the Air Force, NASA and Thiokol (the rocket maker.)
When the gret "Peace Dividend" hit, my aerospace job was gone and so I started a custom earplug business for shooters and industry. I've been doing that now for 15 years and am about to sell that business as I turn 60 in a few months and the travel is beginning to get to me.
I recently was urged to enter a little writing contest, and part of the prize for finishing a novel was to have it published. I'm now working on the sequel to that little hors d'oeuvre of a story, and hope to have it out next month.
I write almost exlusively about reloading, something I've done since I shot competitive trap in the 50s and 60s. I don't hunt much, have killed only a handful of big game animals and a slew of varmints, nor have I ever competed in shooting since my trap days. I'm math challenged, but my pilot and NASA years gave me a middlin' grasp of science and technology (which I had to explain to reporters, the dumbest critters this side of slime mold).
That's the fingernail clipping version of my resume.
