Joe Le Plume was born in western PA in 1948. He hales from the sturdy Italian immigrant stock who built and serviced the railroads that carried the coal and iron ore to the blast furnaces of Pittsburgh. Twelve years of Catholic school under the strict tutelage of the good Sisters of Mercy made one enduring contribution to Joe's early education: He can certainly write a crisp correct sentence. This skill served him well as he acquired a BS degree at Indiana University of Pennsylvania. After college graduation, his student deferment ended and Joe was swept into the United States Navy and three years of service as an Air Intelligence Officer onboard USS Oriskany CVA-34 as the Viet Nam War was ending. The years in the navy were most formative. In the years after the navy, Joe found himself gravitating to a career in family counselling. He specialized in homes where parents are dealing with children with at least one mental health diagnosis. He is now retired and applying what he has learned to his new career as an author. He lives happily in central Pennsylvania with his wife and youngest daughter. Joe reports that the most influential writers for him are Ayn Rand (Atlas Shrugged), William Glasser M.D. (Choice Theory) and Joseph Campbell (The Masks of God). Echoes of each of these giants are very evident in his first novel "I Say...Hear God Speak: A New Mythology for the Modern Era".