I admit that I am a bit of an oddity: I am trained technically (chemistry, math, physics, engineering (mechanical, materials, and electronics), computer programming, etc.);, But, I have a long love of languages and literature. Tho' I speak generally inflectionless American English (after years of working to lose my accent), I grew up speaking Appalachian, and as a youth I learned spanish (castillian), and when I was a child I spoke a smattering of German, which I learned at the knee of a beloved uncle. Over the years I have acquired a few phrases in several other european languages, including a bit of Yiddish. I spent years learning sentence structure, and learnt it in more than one language. I can, at times, be a stickler for proper grammer.

I live and die by the words in Contract documents, and believe that one should write what one wishes to say, clearly and simply. For ideas to be conveyed properly, it is important that the writing not be overly flowery, verbose, or grammatically incorrect. In other words we should each endeavor to "Say what we Mean, and, Mean what we Say."

I am widely read (I read a lot, and omnivorously - all genres) having read much of Greek, Roman, and Norse mythology, histories - both ancient and modern, many of the so-called classics of English Literature, political and socialogical treatises, and a great deal of science and technical publications. I have read Shakespeare and Bacon in reprints of the original published broadsides, Don Quixote in castillian, and Beowulf in middle english (spelling is optional, read it aloud, say what you see and listen as you speak - Oh, it helps if you have grown up speaking Appalachian). I also read a lot of fiction, fantasy, and science fiction (though I find all too little science in modern sci-fi writing).

I have published no fan-fiction at this time, but am working on some ideas which I may post as a form of challenge in the future.