WHO I AM AND WHAT I DO

I am a freelance journalist and technical writer specializing in computers and related technologies. Most of my work appears in magazines--both newsstand publications such as Home Office Computing and restricted-circulation trade periodicals such as the late Reseller Management--most recently Transform (which until May 2001 was Imaging and Document Solutions). I have also done promotional/advertorial work for Western Digital, produced user manuals for banking and bar-code software, and helped to develop promotional and marketing materials for small businesses.

Since the mid-1980s I've covered a variety of topics, from color printing to wide area networking and telecom standards. The assignments I've drawn have made me especially familiar with document imaging, storage, and fax technologies. In addition, my work for Reseller Management, Vertical Application Reseller, and Computer and Office Electronics Retailer has often had a strong emphasis on business and sales issues of interest to VARs and distributors.

For Home Office Computing I evaluated SOHO (small office/home office) products. Again, my assignments led me to specialize, and I reviewed lots of fax machines, computer fax software, multifunction units, and scanners--to say nothing of computers, printers, telephones, OCR packages, and utility software.

As a break from the tech work, I like to write about anything that I know well or am curious about, such as toy collecting or the guitar and its music. Thus I have done articles on space toys for Toy Collector and Doctor Who Magazine and features and CD reviews for Acoustic Guitar, Acoustic Musician, and Fingerstyle Guitar. My current musical fascination is Hawaiian slack key guitar--I've done several magazine pieces and am working on Aloha Guitar, a book of player profiles and history of the tradition, scheduled for publication in 2006 (or 2007, or 2008. . .).

Another long-time interest is science fiction and fantasy. I've been a reader and fan since 1955, and during my teaching days I wrote book reviews, articles for scholarly journals, and entries for reference works on SF, including James Gunn's New Encyclopedia of Science Fiction. Since 1990, I've had a monthly review column for Locus, "The Newspaper of the Science Fiction Field," in which I look at new SF books.


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