TR Hanes

I studied at Johns Hopkins and earned my PhD. at Cornell. My chosen profession allowed me the privilege of living and working in a number of countries in South America, Africa, and the Middle East where I got to know some of the local people and their culture. I usually felt that I was helping people, but all was not perfect. There were some trying times when I felt like scrapping everything and going back to the safety and comfort of my own country. As I've gotten older, like most people, I wonder what the end of life might bring. My second book, Lazarus in the Labyrinth, attempts to deal with this most important of all human issues as a novel of ideas about religion, death and resurrection. I'm now retired and lead a quiet life in Ithaca, New York with a partner, a dog and a beautiful garden.

I am currently writing an adventure story based loosely on the Jonestown, Guyana tragedy. When I was working on a research project in Guyana in the early 1970's I visited the remote jungle site of the early Jonestown community – under construction by a handful of enthusiastic young Americans. My boss was interested in going there, the reasons for which I didn't understand at the time. I have a chapter about that strange trip in my first book, 'Undercovers: A Heaven of Hell.’