John McDonald has been reading science fiction and fantasy since the age of ten, when he discovered that the ¡rocket ship¢ symbol on a library book meant a good out of this world story. He dodged the Vietnam era draft by the simple choice of enlisting in the Marine Corps in 1967, and served until 1977. He worked as a police officer, juvenile probation officer and taught high school in a juvenile prison. Returning to active duty with the US Army in 1986, he served as a Drill Sergeant and instructor of advanced leadership courses before retiring in 1996. He currently works as the head of Information Services for the Post Falls, Idaho Public library. He was last seen at RadCon as Billy Bob Hick, searching for his wife Dora who had been abducted by aliens.