Question: How many AAPG members
have second (or third?) careers as authors?
Answer: More than we'll ever know.
But past AAPG President Robert Cowdery, after a conversation with
AAPG member and author Richard McCullough of San Antonio ("Fish
Tales, Etc.") was intrigued enough to try to find at least part
of the answer.
With the help of dozens of people and groups, Cowdery compiled
this list of members and geologists who are known commercial authors.
We're sure the list fails to include everyone — but it's a pretty
good start.
Michael Alger — former exploration manager
for Reichold Energy, now employed as a meteorologist for KTVN-TV
in Reno, Nev. He wrote a mystery novel, Snow Storm, and is working
on Hailstones, which draws on his geologic background.
Sarah Andrews — One of AAPG's better known
authors, a former Amoco geologist in Denver who writes mystery novels
based on the fictional character Em Hansen, a forensic geologist.
Works include Earth Colors, Killer Dust, Fault Line, An Eye for
Gold, Bone Hunter, Only Flesh and Bones, Mother Nature, Tensleep
and A Fall in Denver.
Rick Bass — former petroleum geologist who
now lives in Yaak, Mont. Fiction works include The Watch: Stories,
Platte River, In the Loyal Mountains: Stories, The Sky, the Stars,
the Wilderness: Novellas, Where the Sea Used to Be, Fiber and The
Hermit's Story. Non-fiction works include The Deer Pasture, Wild
to the Heart, Oil Notes, The Lost Grizzlies: A Search for Survivors
in the Wilderness of Colorado and Colter: The True Story of the
Best Dog I Ever Had.
Ray Blackhall — an independent geologist in
Houston; his first novel, The Sleuth Planet is soon to be published.
Karen Rose Cercone — geology professor at Indiana
University of Pennsylvania. Writing under the pen name of L.A. Graf
she has scripted several episodes of "Star Trek" and "Deep Space
Nine" — for television. As Karen Rose Cercone she has published
the mystery novels Steel Ashes, Blood Tracks and Coal Bones.
James Bruce (J.B.) Coffman — Ex-Exxon, now
an independent in Houston, had his first novel published two years
ago. The Right Move is about an ex-oil man who, after losing his
family, starts a working dude ranch.
Robert Euwer — retired geologist in Granbury,
Texas, wrote No Longer Forgotten, about his experiences in the Korean
War.
Giovanni Flores — consultant in Florence, Italy,
who co-wrote (with Sue Blakey) Arc of the Sun: Adventures of a Petroleum
Geologist.
David Howell — with the U.S. Geological Survey
in Menlo Park, Calif., has written The Winemaker's Dance, to be
published in September, about the geology of the Napa Valley.
Franz-Luitpold Hermann Kessler — a native of
Munich, Germany, now in Houston in Shell Oil's Geology and Knowledge
Management, has written two novels, Jamaica Blood and Jungle Fever.
George Klein — with SED-STRAT Geoscience in
Sugar Land, Texas, has his first novel, Dissensions, coming out
this month.
Emily Bradshaw Krokosz — former Chevron geologist,
writes under the pen names of Emily Carmichael and Emily Bradshaw.
Carmichael works include Devil's Darling, Autummfire, Surrender,
and Jezebel's Sister. Bradshaw works include Cactus Blossom, Heart's
Journey and Halfway to Paradise.
John Masters — legendary oil finder, wrote
The Hunters, which details the history of Canadian Hunter.
Gerald Rolf — author who resides in Ireland;
his novel The Event deals with terrorism in the Texas, Louisiana
and Mississippi oil patch.
Matthew Silverman — a consultant in Boulder,
Colo. Works include Civil War Trivia Quiz Book, Football Trivia
Quiz Book, Science Trivia Quiz Book, Looney Lawsuits, On the Other
Hand: Jewish Words of Wisdom and My Job is a Joke.
Diane Spickert — an independent in Golden,
Colo., author of the children's book Earthsteps, A Rock's Journey
through Time.
Paul Ware — novelist who is a geophysicist
with Unocal, Bellaire, Texas.
Jerry Wermund — former long-time associate
director of the Bureau of Economic Geology, Austin, who wrote the
text and poetry for a book of striking color photography of geologic
structures and phenomena, aimed toward young readers.
James E. Wilson — consultant in Englewood,
Colo., and a Sidney Powers medalist, wrote the award-winning Terroir:
The Role of Geology, Climate and Culture in the Making of French
Wine.