My Father the Writer
My father had a horrible childhood. He was a child of the great depression. He suffered deprivation and abandonment among other abuse. He joined the Army at the beginning of World War Two and was eventually assigned to studying aerial photography in the Pacific Theater. He became permanently assigned to the Army’s intelligence branch, G2. After the war, the Army Air Corp, his branch of the Army became a separate Air Force. He became a base intelligence officer.
He remained in this position regardless of where we were transferred. In 1957, the year those pesky Russians put a seventeen pound beeping ball in orbit he was essentially transferred from the Air Force and became the head of security for NASA.
He was a quiet but very smart person, way smarter than me. He never wrote or published in the traditional sense but he wrote and edited hundreds of government handbooks, letters and reports to his boss. I’ve read some of them. He was a better writer than I am.
I hold Dad responsible for my interest in UFOs and other enigmatic things that make the hair raise on your neck. In the 1950’s he was involved in Project Blue Book, the Air Force’s official investigation into UFO’s.
My dad died of cancer in 1971. He was fifty-four years old. He took his oaths of secrecy very seriously and rarely talked about anything at work. One time I ask him to tell me one thing he knew about UFO’s. He replied, “Never report one.”
He is one of the big reasons I always wanted to be a writer.
Thanks, Dad.
Their world is crowded with active volcanoes, sulfur and acid rains, permanent thick clouds turn day into deep twilight. It is a violent place: moment-to-moment survival is victory, every creature is constantly predator and prey, sleep is certain death. This is home to the longclaws, beings of super-human speed, strength and senses. Their predatory skills allow them only a tenuous niche in their hellish environment. Though smart and fierce, their rank in the food chain is far below the top. One clan leader draws from ancient legends of paradise and devises a plan to escape and take his clan to the otherworld – a world filled with slow, defenseless prey. The clan activates an Indian mound deep in southern forests and enters our world -hungry for prey. Torrential rains and washed out bridges force a runaway teen, an old dowser and a Cherokee healer to face the horrors of the clan’s merciless onslaught. Mankind’s legends are filled with vampires, werewolves, dragons and other nightmarish. Perhaps our legend of hell is based on the world of the Longclaws.
Steve Peek grew up in a family of readers and writers. In the second grade a neighbor gave him a toy printing press and, using rubber linotype, he wrote and printed a neighborhood paper. His first short story won a competition in his third grade class. Sometimes he dreamed of being a policeman, fireman, lawyer, minister, soldier, politician, but in every dream he was also a writer. Peek loves games. He enjoyed a forty year career in the game industry which allowed him to travel the world where he was able to explore many of the ancient, mythical places he’d read about. Some legends associated with these enigmatic sites led him down a winding road to a junction where myth meets science and the hold of this magical place continues its grip. Over the decades Steve always wrote. Sometimes just here and there. Twice he managed to have books published. Now, with the precious time to write, Steve found the traditional publishing world in disarray and decided that it is more important for him to write than to sell books to the big publishing houses. The venue of the e-book makes this possible. So, for better or for worse, Steve sits at a kitchen table looking into the woods around his home in the Smokey Mountains and writes every day. Reviewers have declared his books Longclaws and Alien Agenda: Why they came, Why they stayed to be a new sub-genre, ‘science faction’. Much of the books are based on history and science while the story falls under fiction. Steve’s books are based on things that interest him and he works hard to make them interesting for his readers. He would like to hear from you via jstephenpeek on facebook or send him a message via his contact form.
Longclaws is free on Amazon through the end of July! Get your free copy today:
Buy Longclaws or Alien Agenda here
Steve is on tour between 12th and 26th July – you can check in with tour central here, and please check back each day to read more fascinating thoughts by this eloquent and interesting author.
Tour arranged by The Finishing Faires
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