Walt Shiel
Although born in Michigan, I was raised across the US and around the world as an Air Force “brat.” I started school on the Pacific Island of Guam during the Korean War and finished high school in France during the Vietnam War. Shortly after graduation, Charles DeGaulle kicked all American forces out of the country, but hey, it wasn't my fault. Not completely, anyway.
In 1969, I talked Michigan State University our of a BSEE degree, the Air Force out of a commission and pilot wings, and Kerrie out of running away when I asked her to to marry me. I went on to log some 4,000 flying hours.
As a civilian, I have worked on the B-2 bomber program at Northrop and the F-16, F-35, and F-22 fighter programs at Lockheed Martin.
Since 1990, I've written articles for magazines in the US, England, and Australia, two monthly columns for aviation magazines, military aviation history books, historical novels, and several collections of short stories.
Kerrie and I now have two daughters and two grandchildren and live on a 40-acre farm in Michigan's Upper Peninsula populated with horses, cats, dogs, and an abundance of wildlife.
“I’d always hated cocktail parties. And this one was worse than most. Overdressed pseudo–people smiled plastic smiles, told one–upmanship stories with phony self–deprecation, then half–listened with painted–on sincerity to the one–upmanship rebuttals. Mannequins. Robots. Androids. Pseudo–people laboring in the vineyards of pseudo–intellectualism to gather the bitter grapes of self–aggrandizement.”
“Begin your writing, fiction or article, where the action begins. This action can be internal (e.g., an important insight or personal decision) or external (e.g., a murder or calamity). Begin too early, you lose your reader. Begin too late, you lose your story.”