I would never have guessed that fiesty old Faustino would have his daughter-in-law arrested to keep her away from drugs. Nor would I have known that aging movie cowboy Wyatt Wyoming would ask Santa for a horse; and what problems that would create for St. Nick on Christmas Eve. Who could foretell that a Red Chinese sub would surface in front of a sailboat seeking a safe harbor, or that its skipper was a graduate of a California university? Certainly not me. The characters determine what happens in my books, not me. I just record what they do and say. I sit down, turn on my computer, and the charactrers start acting out what is apparently quite normal for them. Frankly, it's very enjoyable. You see, I could never dream up the crazy things they do and say, yet those things are normal to them. When you read the books I publish, you'll see what I mean.Following a successful career as a chamber of commerce executive in California, I retired to Costa Rica and began writing. Recently, Kamel Press, LLC, a young and innovative publishing company in the Unites States, contracted to publish some of my books. They published "Even in Eden," an epic saga of intrigue in Costa Rica (which includes Faustino and his daughter-in-law, the beautiful but twisted Yessenia), and have contracted to publish several others. The boat seeking safe harbor is one of them. Wyatt Wyoming and many other colorful characters are part of a short story collection. A few of the stories are being published in small collections (see "Great New and Fun Holiday Stories"), and the full array of almost fifty fun (and somewhat different) stories will be published when time allows.Meantime, I continue to write (or, more accurately, record the actions and words of wonderful characters) in Costa Rica, where a large community of gifted writers reside.