Accidental Life

I am writing while “exiled” on Patmos, the very same Greek island on which the Apostle John received and penned the Apocalypse...a mystical place that I could never have foreseen or planned as the setting for composing my book. An apparent “accident” of fate. But fate has nothing to do with it.

The author’s black-and-white Midwest childhood escapades graduated to full-color worldwide wanderings, crammed with intriguing cross-cultural adventures to satisfy nostalgists and avid travel readers. Accidental Life is a memoir, but reads like a novel. It’s story, not timelines. Then, why not make it a novel? Because as it is, it proves the old adage that truth is often stranger (and more charming) than fiction. Why his life? How many single lives include the crazy admixture of small town Tom Sawyer-like exploits, getting hijacked and unintentionally forgotten in Iraq, competing in collegiate sports, working in the NFL, speaking to crowds, flying planes, rock climbing, living on a Turkish mountaintop and a Greek isle, rescuing people in peril, helping numerous people die, and finally selling the house and “Breaking Good?”

The author invites the reader along on a journey of life. A coming of age story...and beyond. A multi-cultural road trip, if you will. The twists, coasting, crashes, and stopovers along the route may themselves reveal a curious path to real life – Accidental Life. This is not a book of teachings…although it potentially teaches. This is a book of stories…personal, real, varied, some funny, some sobering, hopefully all entertaining, touchable, and provocative.

A Magical Setting

What Is This Book?

Part One: THE SILLY YEARS

      Inglorious Accidents

      Romantic Hardhead

      Street Cruisers

      KO’d in Detroit

      Second Fiddle’s Fine

      The College Experiment

      A Thundering Velvet Hand

Part Two: MORE SERIOUS TIMES

      Hitchhiking and Hijacked

      Presidents and Pygmies

      Family Planning

      Acapulco Gold

      Home Sweet Hospital

      Inner-City Slaughter

      A Skeleton from the Closet of My Personal Journal

      In Camp with the Kurds

      A Man’s Been Shot!

      Career Development

      Helping People Die

      Helping People Get Hitched

      Big Bending

      Success in Reverse

Part Three: SEASON OF SERENDIPITY

      Breaking Good

      A Season in the NFL

      Seconds of Turkey

      Good Dog Bad Dog

      Son of the Highlands

      Exiled on Patmos

Poetry in Motion