It’s only 1000 miles from Westwood, New Jersey, where I grew up, to Indianola, Iowa, where my wife, Kathy (a veterinarian), and I have lived since 1984. But I took the long route through Texas, Oklahoma, California (where I met Kathy) and Hawaii, all residential stops influenced by either the Army (1972-75) or the FAA (1979-1997).
I’m an accidental writer. Never studied the craft in college (UC Santa Cruz 1976-78). Never did much studying of any kind in college but did learn to type—rather quickly for using two fingers and always holding a pen in my right hand as I do. I’ve embraced the image of 1930s movie newsroom writers beneath fedoras, hammering away while a cigarette smolders unattended in a nearby ashtray beside a half-empty bourbon bottle. Yeah, I got into writing for the image.
That serpentine route through America provided my disjointed education and influenced my writing. Four published novels, plus several collections of short stories and stage plays, one aviation textbook and recently a memoir, A-5-2, about my Army Basic Training experience, comprise the core of my oeuvre, which is likely the most pretentious phrase I’ve ever typed…with two fingers.
Branching into audiobooks, I recorded A-5-2, my memoir about Army basic training (1972). Earlier, I’d voiced Leora’s Letters, by Joy Neal Kidney, a WWII family memoir with knockout emotional power. Both audio books were recorded by Steve Mathews in Sauna Studios. Ask Joy, she’ll explain the name. My fifth novel, Niland Corners, a romantic adventure set in unreal time is available in paperback and as an e-book. My Managing Editor, Karey Ciel, is readied that one for print. None of my works would see the e-light of day without Karey.
Voice work is fun—challenging for me—but fun. Another field into which I stumbled, I hosted and co-created a radio drama series, Rejection Slip Theater™, in 1991 with Joe Pundzak. Together with our Technical Director, Michael Meacham, we produced dozens of hour-long radio drama programs with stories performed by the best audio talent. The programs are still “broadcast” somewhere on the web.
Each week, amid the insanity of the radio dramas and comedies, I’d do a monologue about growing up in Westwood, NJ (1959-1972) with my fictitious friend, Artie Azzetti. Some of my Azzetti stories are collected in, Artie Azzetti and Me, a paperback available on Amazon.
Of other note: I’ve been a pilot for over 50 years, a flight instructor (CFII) for 30+ years and qualify as an aviation nut, which is why I write about it so much, including for the online magazine, AVWeb (avweb.com). I was a FAA air traffic controller (1979-97) in San Jose and Monterey, CA towers as well as Des Moines, IA. And for almost two years at Oakland Air Route Traffic Control Center (ZOA), but I like to forget about that time. Breathed a lot of secondhand cigarette smoke on that job.
My Oeuvre in order of release:
Bootleg Skies. (Novel) A Prohibition-Era smuggling tale set in 1929, it introduces barnstorming pilot and ne’er-do-well, Jake Hollow, to an unsuspecting audience.
Inside The Circle: (Novel) Set in 1937, the aviation/crime genre continues, only the miscreant at the controls is Kate Strauss, an impoverished commercial pilot who flies for easy money in a money laundering scheme.
Artie Azzetti and Me: Tales of growing up in Westwood, NJ between 1959 and 1972. Rated PG for occasional nun violence.
Black Knight Of The Soul: A medieval two-act stage play adapted from the radio play by Paul Berge. Yeah, rips off a lot of Shakespeare.
Trying To Quit: A collection of one-act plays, adapted from the original radio plays by Paul Berge. Two were made into short films; links at paulberge.com.
Muzzy: (Novel) Not as many airplanes but more trains in this time-warped story based on a true event in 1960. Stars Richard Nixon and introduces audiences to a six-year-old boy from NJ named Muzzy. He and his Aunt Charlotte hold all the keys to all the universes and love a good grilled cheese sandwich.
That’s Life, I Guess: (Novel) Jake Hollow returns in 1936 and this time in Los Angeles, CA, where he flies for the movies and a little bit for the Mob.
Aeromancy: A collection of aviation short stories, by Paul Berge
Niland Corner: (Novel) No crime, no violence, just flying and the romances found therein and thereout, all pushed aloft by Time-warped wings.
Watching Emily: A work in progress, showcasing our amazing daughter, Emily Berge-Thielmann, a far better writer than I…or me. She’d know.
My Oeuvre, My Shame: Another work in progress, proving how silly the word, “oeuvre” sounds in everyday conversation.
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