I was born on October 27, 1947, in New Holland, a mill village about 50 miles north of Atlanta. In 1964, I had the good fortune to become a student in the Georgia Governor's Honors Program, where my love of reading and writing grew deeper.My very first professional story, "The Third Grave," was bought by ELLERY QUEEN'S MYSTERY MAGAZINE and appeared in that publication in 1966. Then it was over thirty years before I published again.But eventually I did begin to write for publication. Alone and in collaboration with my wife Barbara, my late friend Thomas E. Fuller, and fantasy artist and writer Joe DeVito, I have now written some 75 published books. I'm also a professor of English at the University of North Georgia in Gainesville, GA--about six miles from where I was born.It's probably no great secret that I am also Ken McKea, writer of the Jim Dallas series of Florida thrillers. McKea is kind of an alter ego who lets me write stories a little different from a standard Strickland tale.Barbara and I have two wonderful grown children, Jonathan (married to Rebecca), who is the Jonathan Strickland of FW: THINKING, a weekly Webcast. He is also Senior Writer for howstuffworks.com. Our daughter Amy (married to Tim Sweeney) is the Head Puppeteer for the Puppetry Arts Center in Atlanta.The nest isn't empty. Barbara and I also have three cats and two dogs, and that's enough to keep us busy.