Oliver grew up on military bases and in their libraries along America's coastlines. Like other Marine families, they moved when his dad received new orders. For thirty months at a time, he played the games of service kids, cavorted in forbidden places, sat quietly in the school's book room, or snuck into the base's free matinees. Classmates and neighbors who had come and gone, arrived again and any enmity from the past quickly disappeared as friendships renewed.
Newly frocked as a second lieutenant and with a commensurate paycheck in hand, Oliver bought his first Smith-Corona. For years, he packed the typewriter around and drafted stories from porches, shared bedrooms, and even a hooch deep in a war zone. Later, he spent a year teaching in the Navajo Nation's Checkerboard, and four more at a police department. He took a hiatus flying in Alaska before deciding on a lifetime with the FBI.
Typewriters metamorphosed into laptops as he careened with the Bureau. Sometimes, he drove the train, the captain of his own destiny and sometimes no such option existed.
Oliver still travels, but no longer alone. You may have met his companions like Phil Pfeiffer and Lisa Calendar from Hunt the Shadow, A Time for Dying, and Certain Evil. Adam Michaels is there, too, the lothario-solider in Levant Mirage, and last man standing against Armageddon. The dreamers, Scott and Angela McHale are with him as well amidst a crumbling society in Camelot Games. Lately, Oliver's imagination and the grown children of a renown and old-monied American family have joined the troupe. The three siblings are caught behind the lines of an invading North Korean army in 1950. The reader or listener will meet real generals, clandestine intelligence agents, and common combatants with uncommon courage.
Today, Oliver divides his days between chores on the family's acres and following story ideas. Many thoughts end up on his website as short stories or fanciful missives. A couple tales find their place in novels. More than an equal number of dangling thoughts die before the end of the page.
He still likes to sit in his local library and stare out the window. Contemplating his own messy past helps when sketching a character or a scene. Watching patrons and neighbors amid their lives keeps his perspective grounded.