I'm a regular guy who has a beautiful family comprised of wonderfully understanding wife and two gorgeous children. I started writing for fun, and it turned out that I was kinda good at it.
Writing is a passion and programming has always been first and foremost fun even though it turned out to be the basis for my career, so combining the two is such a perfect choice it wasn't really a decision.
Although I've only got two books currently published in the US, I've actually written another ten or so in Australia and New Zealand, along with creating a magazine dedicated to computer development, now known as International Developer and published in 16 countries.
I'll try to keep this up to date as things happen, in case you're interested...