Welcome to Candle Fly Press

Early in our writing careers, Diane and I joined the Writer's Guild of Greenville. I was eventually elected president of the group and served two terms. During my tenure, I came to the realization that the marketplace for writers was becoming tighter. Large publishers were buying out smaller firms, and with few exceptions, were becoming more and more specialized regarding subject matter. This presented a problem for writers like Diane and me who wanted to write about many different subjects. It was obvious to us that we would never be able to find publishers for all our current and future writings. We therefore decided to form our own company. This would allow us the freedom to write poetry, short stories, novels (both fiction and non-fiction), and true-life stories for all ages without being restricted to any particular publisher's requirements. Our promise to you is that we will provide family oriented works. Any children's stories will be presented with the utmost integrity and geared to family fare. While some of our more adult themes may deal with mature situations, they will be written with good taste and will be morally unobjectionable. 

It was a good place to grow up and I wouldn't take anything for my childhood memories; however, by the age of 14, I realized it was not the life for me. I wanted to see the places I learned about in school, read about in books, and saw in movies. During the next few years, I ran away from home a number of times. Often I'd be gone for weeks and on some occasions went to places as far away as Florida and Texas.

One month and five days after my 17th birthday, I joined the United States Air Force. It was a relief for my parents, and for me it was a way to see the world. After completing my training and tech school, I volunteered for an assignment in Turkey. Imagine me, not quite 18 years old and walking the streets of Istanbul.

The Cold War was heating up and I was kept on the move. This allowed me to see some of the other Mediterranean countries as well. I wound up landing in North Africa and finished my overseas tour of duty there. It had been a good tour and a learning experience. I got to meet people of many different nationalities, cultures, traditions, and religions. I always respected their values and tried to remember that I was the foreigner. Even though our language and attire was different, I came away with the belief that basically we are all the same.

Returning to the United States, I was stationed in Oklahoma. I finished up my enlistment there and received an honorable discharge. Having completed my military obligations, I continued to travel on my own. Over the next 17 years, I rambled around this great country of ours, had many adventures, and held a wide variety of occupations.

Eventually I returned to South Carolina for one of my infrequent visits, and a strange thing happened -I stayed - and the longer I stayed, the more comfortable I was with the idea. I began to realize that I had fulfilled most of the dreams of that 14-year-old mill village kid who wanted to see the world. After all, I had seen a good part of it and most of our country. Among other things, I'd put my bare feet in the Mississippi River and those same feet had walked on the endless sands of the Sahara Desert. Also, on a warm sunny day in Rome, I'd spent the afternoon sitting in the Coliseum. Now, all of that was going to have to be enough. Home felt good.

I started a business that was moderately successful for several years before I began to get restless. However, this time it was different - this time it was an urge to write. So, I sold my business and began my writing career by putting together a book of poems that I had written mostly while on the road. The title is "Private Thoughts, Private Memories".

After that, I had planned on writing about some of my experiences, but first there was something else I wanted to do. The inappropriate material I'd seen being created for children over the last few years, especially at Christmas time, caused me to reflect upon my own childhood. I wanted to try to write an entertaining, traditional family Christmas story emphasizing work ethics, responsibility and morals. I think with the help of a very special lady named Diane we accomplished that in "The Legend of Auggie, The Awkward Elf".

With these projects behind me, I have several more I want to work on, as well as other novels. One will be entitled, "Times, Places and Faces", to be taken from my own experiences.

In my early 20's I married, moved to Massachusetts, and eventually had two children of my own - a son and a daughter. During the years I lived up North, I learned that a smile is contagious and people everywhere are friendly if you'll just open your heart and let them in. I had outrageous fun feeding my neighbors southern fried chicken, pecan pie, and "imported" grits and pork rinds. They, in turn, took great delight in teaching this southpaw how to crack open lobster claws and steamed clams without getting squirted in the face. They listened to my Southern drawl with amusement, sometimes asking me to repeat words they found particularly funny. I will always cherish both the memories and the people I met.

In time, I returned to South Carolina and settled in Spartanburg. The passing years brought many changes to my life - some good and some not so good. Hopefully, learning to deal with those changes helped me become just a little bit wiser. I've been happily employed at Wofford College for about 20 years. I still love horses and swimming, but I have also developed a love for writing which I'm sure will keep me busy until I drop in my tracks. Stacy and I hope the novels, short stories, poems and antidotes we plan to add will make you laugh, cry, and perhaps even find a new way of looking at life with all its ups and downs. Thank you for visiting our web pages - please come again!

Stay Tuned - More to Come!