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The Home of Kyle Pratt
The Home of Kyle Pratt
 

For most of my life, I never thought of being a writer.

I didn’t start reading novels until I was in Middle School.  The year was 1970 and I was in the eighth grade. My family had recently moved to a very rural area of Colorado, beyond the reach of television and most radio. My sister, an avid reader, had many books in a variety of genres in her room. One day in desperation for entertainment I borrowed Starman Jones by Robert A. Heinlein from her.

I liked the cover

The book cover showed a young man on the bridge of a starship. I wasn’t sure what he was doing, but it looked really cool. It took me several days of constant reading to finish the novel, but it grabbed my interest and held it tight. That book taught me that reading could be fun.

I never gave the book back to her and still have that original paperback copy of Starman Jones in my library. I doubt I ever would have become a writer if I hadn’t first read Starman Jones and learned to enjoy reading.

After that, I read all of Heinlein’s works. I also read many of the science fiction novels of Arthur C. Clark and Isaac Asimov, including his Foundation series.

During my teen years I started reading end-of-the-world books, a genre we now call post-apocalyptic. The first book in this genre I read was, The Earth Abides, by George Stewart. Later came books like Alas Babylon, On the Beach, Lucifer’s Hammer, and many more.

I have never stopped reading and the list of authors that I enjoy continues to expand.

Seven things about me

  • I really am a prepper.

  • I lived six years in Japan, three years on Guam, and seven years in an Eskimo village.

  • I learned to scuba dive on Guam including wreck diving inside sunken ships.

  • I’m a retired Navy veteran who served on the USS Missouri (BB 63) battleship during the Gulf War.

  • My Amateur Radio (Ham) callsign is KK7OBD.

  • My hobbies include beekeeping and chess.

  • I’m a fan of the sport of curling.

Today, Lorraine and I live on a small family farm in Western Washington State. Rural life keeps me busy. After my writing is done, I repair gates and fences, tend bees and chickens and walk in the woods.