Okay, about me.

I'm a husband, father, grandfather, police officer, and author. A struggling author would be more accurate. I have no bestsellers yet, no blockbuster films based on my startling, brilliant novels. My books won't ever be studied in literature classes, assigned to students to be picked apart for their cultural significance; they don't speak to glaring issues of American society. They simply entertain. I hope. Though honestly, some would argue that point. But before I talk about the writing, I'll give a little history about what formed me, Steve Copling, and how I came to writing fiction at all.

My Childhood

I was born in St. Louis, Missouri, to young Christian parents. The third child out of six, we moved from St. Louis proper one week into my first grade year, into the small house in which my parents still reside. While my upbringing wasn't on a farm, we were very much a rural family. I spent eighty percent of my outdoor time playing in vast wooded areas just outside our back door. My playmates were primarily my four brothers and sister, but we did associate with other kids living nearby. I played every imaginable game out in those woods: Army, Cowboys and Indians, Hike and Seek, Tag, War. I whooped and hollered, screamed and fought, laughed and cried, hunted and explored. We used to have tire rolling contests, pushing them down a steep, swooping hill, trying desperately to aim them between the large jutting rocks that are common to the terrain in that part of the state. I climbed trees, fell from a few, and took endless hikes lasting hours at a time, developing a keen sense of direction that still benefits me to this day. Over the years we raised chickens and pigs and rabbits, and, yes, I've butchered and eaten all of those. We had a horse and a pony. And dogs. I'll never forget the dogs. Queeny, Bullet, Prince, Tippet, Freckles. And though all of these animals together might sound like farm life, we raised them separately through the years.

Growing up in rural America taught me many lessons. You can't keep a dog that starts killing chickens, even if that dog is a beloved pet; you can't allow a litter of wild dogs to grow up and roam the countryside; your family, not the government or the community or your school, is responsible for raising children right and teaching them the ways of God; you are responsible for your actions - no excuses - you do the crime, you pay the fine. There are many other lessons too numerous to mention, but God - Country - Family are just as important now as ever.

My Family

I married my high school sweetheart and we just celebrated our 28^th wedding anniversary. She's the love of my life and someone who continues to guide me through the valleys that all of us experience. I honestly give her the credit for the success of my three sons. She was and continues to be there for them, often offering them advice they probably think they don't need. She was the rock during their childhood school days, the mentor at home who kept them on a straight and narrow road of academic success until they shoved off for college. My oldest is an attorney in Dallas, my middle is a computer information systems graduate, the bright young webmaster for this very site. Our youngest is a sophomore in high school, also doing well under the tutelage of the best wife and mother in America.

My Career

After a brief career in plumbing, I hired on at Plano PD at the tender age of 21. It was in July of 1980, the hottest summer in Texas history. President Regan had been in office for six months, interest rates were sky high, and VCRs were big, clunky machines that only the wealthy could afford. There were no video cameras, no cell phones, no PDAs or internet. It was a bright new future for me and my career. Plano, Texas had 77,000 people and about eighty officers. The department had no SWAT team, crime prevention officers, school officers, neighborhood officers, warrant officers, narcotic officers, or any of the specialized units we have now. We wore brown uniforms, carried revolvers, and all worked out of one building. The city had no malls, one senior high school, and city hall shared a building with the central fire department.

Because of when I hired on, I've been fortunate to work in a number of different areas. The department grew in size while I gained experience. By the time the department started expanding into specialized areas, I was able to take advantage and expand with it. Over the years I've worked in Field Training, Crime Prevention, SWAT, School Liaison, CID, Narcotics, and Professional Standards. I promoted to sergeant in March of 2002 and supervised in patrol, CID, and SWAT. I promoted to lieutenant in February of 2005 and currently work in the patrol division.

My Writing

I started writing in the summer of 1993 as a favor to my sister, who wanted to write a screenplay about a murder. She knew nothing of police procedure and proceeded to draft a crime that would have resulted in her suspect being caught in about five minutes. Since movies are supposed to be longer than that, I agreed to write an opening chapter of her crime in manuscript form, after which, she would convert to screenplay format. While writing that chapter, I discovered that I enjoyed it. So I wrote another chapter. Then another. After a few months I had completed the story, which had taken off in a direction totally different than my sister's initial idea. I was hooked. That very first story is on a dark, dusty shelf in a cabinet, never to land on a publisher's desk.

The next manuscript I completed was The Shooting Season, although that was not the first book published. I wrote the first draft, set it aside, and then wrote The Listener, which was published in 2004. I am currently writing a third book in the series. Both of the stories have elements found in my childhood. Much of The Shooting Season takes place in the woods, and I drew from my extensive childhood experiences writing those scenes. Of course, the books are police procedurals, which is the area I know best. I don't enjoy reading sex scenes or excessive language or perversion, so nothing like that will be found in any of my books. But it's hard to write accurate police stories without at least a small measure of realism, so some "gutter" language will be found.

What I Read

Every author I know is also a voracious reader. And like everyone else, I have my favorites, although my favorites really have nothing to do with the quality of writing. I love a well-written book. I think it's important. But for me it's about the story. It's about the pace, the action, the chapter hooks. I love great dialogue and descriptions of places that are detailed enough to put you there, but not so overdrawn as to drag the story. Many of my favorites are wonderful writers, but some are better story tellers than literary tacticians. Michael Connelly, Lee Child, Deborah Crombie, Dean Koontz, Jonathon Kellerman, Stephen White, Caleb Carr, John LesCroate, John Grisham, Vince Flynn, and Stephen Hunter are all authors I enjoy. There are many others, too many to name, in fact, so I'll just stop there. I can't imagine living life without a book to read. One of the quickest ways for me to relax is to sit with a great novel and get lost within its pages.

All three of my boys also love to read. My wonderful wife required them to do so for one hour each day during the summer months of their childhood. My wife understood that reading comprehension is the key to academic success in every subject except mathematics, and even then in some cases. So they learned to read and read well. They would have rather been playing outside, but they were obedient kids and soon discovered what I learned in my childhood: that new and exciting worlds awaited them between the pages.

I hope you enjoy my books, and if you do, please feel free to contact me through this website. I love feedback, good or bad. I take full responsibility for any and all content in the books I write. I can't very well hide since I'm the one who wrote the words. So go out and read what I've done. Then let me know.

All the best,

Steve Copling