The Last Professional follows Lynden as he escapes his life as a computer programmer and goes in search of The Tramp, who kidnapped and abused him on the rails as a child. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?

From my own experience riding the rails, I understood what a unique and hidden world this is, and that it would make the perfect setting for a story about our American culture of wanderlust and our thirst for adventure.

Lynden Hoover is an intriguing and well-developed character. What were some driving ideals behind your character’s development?

While many ride the rails to lose themselves, Lynden is returning to them to find himself. He has tried to ignore his past, and to outrun it. Now, rather than waiting for it to catch up with him he decides to confront it, knowing that he can’t get on with his life until he does.

What were some themes that were important for you to explore in this book?

A freight train may seem like an unlikely place to ask the big questions — Who are we? How do we fit in? Where do we belong? — yet that is exactly what Lynden, and his mentor The Duke, the last of the professional hobos, are doing.

What is the next book that you are working on and when will it be available?

My novel Four in Stone is about four unlikely high school classmates finding one another, and friendship, in the fictional northern California town of O’Farrell in the late 1960’s. It, and a short story collection, O’Farrell Stories, are complete, and I am currently at work on the sequel, Four in Love. Their availability is dependent on finding the right publishing home.

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