One might ask how I came to be a science fiction writer of time travel novels. The answer goes a long way back to when I was a child. It started when I almost failed the second grade. I was a headstrong child determined to do the things that children love to do: play. I had no interest in school and at the end of my second year, the principal and my teacher called for a meeting with my mother. They told her that I was not doing well, especially in reading, and they were going to require that I take the second grade over again. However, just as I was headstrong to play, my mother was headstrong to make sure I had a regular progression in school. She proposed that, if my teacher and the principal would pass me to the third grade, she would work with me over the summer to improve my reading. They accepted.
I can still remember that summer when I didn’t get to play. Instead, every day, my mother and I spent the day under our grape orchard with me practicing reading. That orchard was made of used railroad ties that formed a framework of a rectangular shelter covered in growing vines of purple grapes. The covering provided a cool place under which I could sit at a combination wood bench and table where we often ate watermelons. My mom stood behind me with a large wooden salad spoon in her hand as I read out loud for a bit from the material my teacher provided. Then Mom would question me about the content. When my mind wandered, she would bop me on the back of my head with that wooden spoon. I was miserable the entire summer, but I read a lot.
When the Fall school semester began, there were three reading groups: slow readers, medium readers, and fast readers. Because of my history from the previous year, I was placed in the slow reading group. When it came my time to read, I overwhelmed the other students with my ability. My teacher moved me to the medium-speed reading group where I overwhelmed them as well. She finally moved me to the fast-speed reading group and I progressed to the top of the class in reading. My grades improved considerably and I was hooked on reading and learning.
Fast forward several years. The town where we lived was situated in an arroyo valley surrounded by steep hills. The town had a diameter such that it was limited to only ten to fifteen blocks wide and long. Everything was within easy walking distance. One day during the Summer, I was bored with nothing to do as I watched my dad building an extension to our house. I asked him if I could have some money so I could walk to the drugstore and buy a paperback book. He gave me fifty cents and continued his work.
I walked the nine blocks to the drugstore that was situated on a corner and I entered. It had a soda bar and fountain along the back with rows of displays containing health needs to one side. On the part facing the street was a picture window with several adjacent rotating paperback book stands. Since the rows of health needs blocked the view of the stands from the soda fountain, this cubby-hole formed the perfect place a young boy could sit un-observed and peruse the paperback book selections.
Just out of curiosity, I picked up a paperback book entitled “The Time Traders” by Andre Norton and started to read a few pages to see if I would like it. I did like it and I turned the last page six hours later. I was enthralled, but I did not buy the book. Instead, I returned it to its holder and I left the drugstore with my fifty cents still in my pocket. Down the main street was a movie theater where my older sister worked in the popcorn stand. It cost me fifteen cents to get in and popcorn was ten cents. I still had change left over.
I never lost that admiration for science fiction, especially stories of time travel. I continued through school and graduated high school near the top of my class. I attended deep-sea diving school in Florida and I joined the Navy during the Vietnam War where I was the lead petty officer in the Navigation Department aboard the aircraft carrier Bon Homme Richard (CVA-31).
After the Navy, I attended various colleges and graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a BFA in Education. However, I never forgot that first book I read from cover to cover in a drug store. I have always been hooked on science fiction and time travel novels. To commemorate that incident in my life, I purchased a paperback copy of “The Time Traders” by Andre Norton and I keep it in a treasured place in my home bookshelf.