Having worked in neuroscience and psychological research for over ten years, both in academia and in the private sector, I can tell you from experience that the truth is stranger than fiction. Radioactive monkeys picking their cage locks is not just the stuff of nightmares, it is my reality.
I write fiction in response to therapists imploring me to keep a journal. I write about my experiences but assign them to fictional characters, giving me distance from reality but allowing me to get it out on paper. I can’t help but stand back and marvel at everything that goes wrong in the research world as well as in my personal life. Fortunately for fiction writers, that is what people want to read about, things going wrong. My dark sense of humor takes care of the rest. I have only to speculate on what else could go wrong in a situation and how the people in the situation would react.
I am a combat veteran. I hold a BS in neuroscience from The University of Michigan and an MBA from Western Michigan University.