Like a lot of people, I used to have fleeting thoughts of writing a book. I'd always heard that everyone has a book in them, it just needs to come out. The problem with that thought was what would I write about? What would be interesting to me? As a Kid, I had always been a huge fan of DC Comics, and their heroes like Superman, Batman, The Flash, Captain Marvel, all those guys and more. But they had faults and weaknesses, with Superman it was Kryptonite; Batman had his problems too as did all the others. Their movies were always disappointing because of them being vulnerable. I wanted to create a heroic character that would be immortal, powerful, and be on a relentless mission. I knew science fiction was my best subject to write about.
There was another problem; I didn't have the writing skills necessary to write properly. I began to realize that writing and knowing how to speak in front of groups are two very useful skills that greatly assist a person in almost any kind of endeavor. I was already settled in my profession as a logistics manager; I had gained that knowledge from various schools on the subject, but I had never attended college. My company was placing increased emphasis on writing reports and making presentations. I knew I needed to improve; I was 36 years old at the time.
My most favorite motivation was and is, "the longest journey begins with a single step." So one day in July, I left my office and drove to a near by regional campus of the University of South Carolina; it's only a five minute drive. That September, I was enrolled in two classes, English 101, a composition course, and Theater 140, more commonly known as speech. I had made a deal with myself, If I can make a B or better in both classes, I would continue, if I didn't, I would stop. To this day I don't know if I would've stopped had I had fallen short, I made an A in both subjects.
I had two enthusiastic and passionate teachers for those first two classes. I am grateful for their interest in me, and for doing their best to pass on some of their knowledge. I kept going to night school and finally graduated seven years later. I benefited greatly from those first two subjects, and to this day consider them to be the most valuable of the forty classes I attended.
But it would be thirty years later before I attempted to write seriously. Then, I introduced Ubros, a remarkable android and published my first book. The character was conceived on a winter day in the foothills of the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina. "Ubros - The Odyssey Begins" was followed by "Ubros - The Odyssey Continues" and then the final book in the trilogy, "Ubros - The Odyssey Darkens". Wow, I had done it, not one book, but three in only three years.
I considered writing a fourth in the Odyssey series, and actually wrote about forty pages when I decided to do something different. I put Ubros on the shelf, maybe temporarily, and began thinking about a serious, adult mystery thriller series. My good characters would be very good at their work, and the bad ones would be equally efficient. I wanted to write stories that would jerk readers into the books quickly and hold them in suspense until the last page.
The Sean Tzu Mystery Thriller Series came into being with "Judgment At Hickory Nut Gorge"; a story of despicable predators and how they terrorized a community. The sequel, "The Chinese Genie", was published a year later. This is a story of heinous crimes including murder and treason involving foreign agents. The story takes an unusual twist when an ancient and powerful weapon of extraterrestrial origin is discovered; this sets in motion an international scramble to possess it. The third novel in the series, Snow, has been recently published. This is an epic story of a heroic and very special dog and his attempt to help locate his kidnapped family, his name is "Snow".
I enjoy living with my wife, Cindy, in our log cabin on the Broad River in Western North Carolina. I can sit at my table with my two wonderful Morkie dogs, Rebel and Dixie, who are always close by, and write, or just look outside and watch nature at work. When I take a notion, I get on my Harley and ride very scenic roads, no matter the season. Life is good.