Bio

Given that I blog with great regularity, and in so doing I share more of my biography than even the most dedicated follower cares to know, I will keep this page short. If you want more, go to Coachean Life.

I was born in Port Chester, NY. My K-12 education was under the auspices of the Catholic Church, followed by the acquisition of a BA in English at Syracuse University. Through sheer luck I found and entered an intern program at Doubleday & Co., where I worked my way up to senior editor. I mostly edited nonfiction, plus I eventually took over a line of Western novels. Since I was in no way previously a fan of Western novels, this was just one of those things. My wife and I were living in Manhattan when our daughter was born, at which point we decided to emigrate to the suburbs, ending up in Cortlandt Manor, NY. At this time I also left Doubleday for a new job at the Reader's Digest in Pleasantville (actually Chappaqua, but we had once been in Pville and the nice sound of it stuck) working on their Condensed Books, later known as Select Editions. Through more sheer luck and previously undetected survivor skills, I made it up through the ranks to Executive Editor, meaning that I was eventually in charge of the series. In 2014, since I seemed to be the only manager around in a position to do so, I additionally became the manager of our adult trade book division. At my day job I spent most of my time either reading to find new books for the Select Editions series or editing the books already chosen, plus the odd management chore for SE or the trade books, and an occasional contribution of sorts to the magazine. I retired in 2019. I focus my creative talents nowadays mostly on writing stories for my granddaughter.

When she reached high school, my daughter joined the debate team, and soon enlisted my assistance when judges were needed. I was one of those rare parents who enjoyed it, but I'm sure I was as undesirable as any parent judge at the time. I imagine I still am. When our coach left in 1995, since I enjoyed the activity I volunteered to the principal to hold the team together until he found a replacement. Twenty years later, and about twenty principals later, I got tired of waiting for my replacement and retired from coaching, primarily because I could no longer handle the responsibilities of a team and the responsibilities of my expanded day job. To this day I do, however, continue to tabulate tournaments and provide unwanted criticism of forensics activities wherever and whenever it isn't needed.