Michael McManus

I grew up in Southern California in the 60s, a very exciting and somewhat turbulent time. After one year of college I entered the US Army and served in Germany for two years. While most of my friends were fighting in Southeast Asia in the early 70s, I was posing a threat to the Soviets, at times almost on their doorstep. Since they never invaded Germany, at least not while I was there, I must surmise that they took my menacing proximity not lightly.

After my hitch in the Army, I met my beautiful wife, Ingrid, and together we started our family. A couple of years later our one and only (and perfect) child was born. Lisa Christine McManus (now Lisa Schomas) - an associate producer on the TV show "Castle" - lives in "The Valley" and has a young family of her own. One of the joys in life is to have a wonderful partner with whom you can make babies and watch them grow. A great portion of my life was dedicated to that end.

Along the way I found spare moments, hours and even days to write. My experiences with the written word started with ghost stories and tales about rocket ships when I was a teen, and meandered into poetry and short stories about young love when I entered adulthood. Somewhere after my fortieth birthday I began writing novels. There have been 10 in all, 8 of which I have self-published. I hope there are many more. The greatest gift one can give to another is entertainment, diversion from the rote of normal life. If I can give a few moments distraction to someone, with possibly a smile or a tear, I have met my goal. My treasure is my storytelling. May you all be my heirs.