About the Author

James W. Morrison served nearly 30 years in the U. S. Department of Defense, three as a U.S. Army officer and nearly 27 as a civilian in the Office of the Secretary of Defense. As a member of the Senior Executive Service, he directed offices dealing with international security policy. He is a graduate of Indiana and Columbia Universities and the National War College and served as a visiting fellow at the National Defense University, where he wrote and had published two short books on international affairs dealing with Russia and NATO. He has devoted much of his retirement to creative writing and volunteer activities. In 2003-2004, he served as president of the Virginia Writers Club. He has been active in the Valley Writers Chapter and the Smith Mountain Arts Council's Lake Writers. He lives with his wife, Edie, at Smith Mountain Lake in Southwest Virginia. The Morrisons have two grown children and two grandchildren. He has completed the writing of a World War II novel, and several essays, short stories, and poems are awaiting publication in an anthology of the Lake Writers.