John W. Cassell

At age 16, I was a disc jockey working at a radio station in Atlantic City, NJ. When it was time to go to college i was offered the program directorship of the network's Camden station. But I wanted to get away. So at age 17 I left home to travel to New Mexico to seek my fortune. I won a fortune all right...my beloved wife of thirty years Olivia, who bore me 4 wonderful kids. I have another wonderful kid from my marital mistake. After law school on the GI Bill, I joined the NM State Police and later prosecuted over one hundred felony jury trials. Saw a lot while on the road and on the street. Saw a lot while in the courtroom...the insane asylum...the military. But I consider my years on the road: 1969-1970 the two most significant in my life...and they are the focus of the bulk of my writings. I live quietly now....disabled, on a pension thank God. I just finishedmy last novel, UNCERTAIN PARADISE: 1974.

Frankly...here at the end of my life...writing is what I'm about as a human being... it warms me when someone gets enjoyment out of it. My heart and soul, the details of several years of my life, and a lot of fun are in these books. A lot of love respect, deceit, starvation, determination, courage and cowardice are in them. I have no agenda other than to leave my children the true story of how I changed from boy to man all alone in a North African garrison town [CROSSROADS: 1969], my life on the road [ODYSSEY: 1970 and AN AQUARIAN TRAGEDY] and the somewhat novelesque, mostly true account of the year I transitioned from a stonehead freak into a "normal person". [HELL'S QUEST: 1971]. There's a lot of recent American history in these volumes along with SOLDIER OF AQUARIUS: 1969-1970, which combines both CROSSROADS and AN AQUARIAN TRAGEDY. This is the 40th anniversary of the events portrayed in CROSSROADS: 1969. I read that book with reverence. I'm not in it for the money or the fame...I'll leave that to the Dan Browns. I am always on the lookout for libraries, nursing homes and isolated locales both military and civilian to donate my books to. If you know one, leave the info in a comment here and I'll make arrangements with them. Beyond that, I like the works of Jack Engelhard, Linda Shelnutt, Tony Waugh, E. Don Harpe Jeff Howe, Sandra Waldron, Robert Meacham, Larry Evans, Edd Voss and several other writers I met in the short-lived but great fun "Amazon Shorts" Program.