I’m a fiction writer, actor, and recent transplant to Saint Paul, Minnesota. Among my books are a novel, The Lost Son (Arcade), a collection of short stories, Are We Not Men? (Arcade), and a memoir, Rattlesnake Daddy (Backwaters/University of Nebraska Press). My short stories have appeared in The Atlantic, GQ, The Missouri Review, Prairie Schooner, Glimmer Train, Antioch Review, The Southern Review, and elsewhere. I’m a graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, where I was a Michener Fellow, and I was a Stegner Fellow and Jones Lecturer in the Stanford Creative Writing Program.
My most recent novel is The Last of Her, a crime thriller from Nighthorse Books. When a disgraced Army intelligence agent strives to clear her name, she puts her family and herself at the crosshairs of a sinister conspiracy. The novel moves from the war-torn streets of Afghanistan to a moonlit field deep in the Nebraska Sandhills. It was a finalist for Killer Nashville’s Silver Falchion Award and for Foreword Reviews’ Book of the Year.
My other awards include the Midwest Book Award, the Nebraska Book Award, and Forward Reviews’ Silver Award, all for Rattlesnake Daddy. My collection of stories, Are We Not Men?, was chosen by the editors of The Village Voice as one of the best books of its year.
I’m a Professor Emeritus from Creighton University, where I taught creative writing and literature for many years. In Saint Paul, I spend my days and nights wrangling two small dogs and working on the sequel to The Last of Her.