My name is Kirby Frank Jonas, and yep, it's my real name. People often tell me they thought it was made up because it sounds so "Western," but I never even thought it sounded Western. I'm just kind of attached to it and didn't feel like making up one of those fake sounding ones like Jake Brannigan, Clint McKenna or something. I am currently a city firefighter for the city of Pocatello, Idaho, where twenty years ago I used to wear the badge of a police officer. Just before that stint, I fought wildfire for the Bureau of Land Management in Idaho, Utah, Wyoming, Arizona, and New Mexico. I would have loved to fight some in Hawaii, too, but for some reason they never invited me. I've done a little of many things, in my life, and I reckon a whole lot of nothing, too. I've moved irrigation pipe, sorted potatoes, ran a pet store, played the part of a cowboy and a horse wrangler, two of my favorite jobs, and also fed, trapped and tagged deer for the Idaho Fish and Game and spent a few winters putting up fencing to keep them out of haystacks. I also drove a big red armored truck for Wells Fargo, Armored, obviously the closest I will ever come to being a stagecoach guard in the Old West. When I'm not firefighting or writing books, I play and sing Western songs and paint my own book covers, working exclusively with real models, often myself. If you check out my author photos, you might find that a lot of them appear to be book covers, and that is because they are--future ones, anyway.I've spent most of my life in the West, namely my home state of Montana, in Idaho, and a stint of almost a year in Arizona, where I was planning a six-month horseback ride from the Mexican border to Cardston, Alberta, Canada and researching in-depth my first three published Western novels.I also traveled extensively through nine European countries and honed my French skills even in places where they had no clue what I was saying. Yeah, that didn't work out so well. I've had the pleasure of making friends with some great old television stars, particularly James Drury, "The Virginian," who became like a father to me and narrated four of my novels on audio, and Clint Walker, with whom I penned two novels. I have rubbed shoulders with Buck Taylor (even beat him in a fast-draw competition in Boise, Idaho), Richard Farnsworth, George Montgomery, Denny Miller, L.Q. Jones, William Smith, Robert Fuller, Tom Selleck, Ben Johnson, Harry Carey, Jr. and Brad Johnson. Basically, I guess I've been living a writer's dream.I have eighteen novels published now, the first two out of print, ten in paper form and in eBooks, and the last six only on Kindle. I am working on a whole slew more of them, including five series, and hope to be releasing my next novel with Clint Walker soon onto Kindle. So yep, I have my hands in a lot of pies.My biggest joy in life and greatest accomplishments are being married to my best friend and the love of my life, Debbie, and having four of the greatest children known to man, all of whom you can find within the pages of my books, or will be able to one day.I love to hear from my readers and fans, positive or even not-so-positive, and I make my best try to write back to all email, even if it is only to reply to a challenge to gun me down at high noon for killing off your favorite character in a novel. My website is www.kirbyjonas.com, and my email is kirby@kirbyjonas.com. You can also find me under "Kirby Jonas" or "KirbyJonasauthor" on Facebook, and I would be glad to greet you there. Drop me a line if you want. If not, please just enjoy reading my books, as I enjoy researching them and giving you the best researched and most entertaining novels of which I am capable. See you down the trail!