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I grew up in Bakersfield. I attended Standard Elementary School, and graduated from North High School in 1957.

I moved to Los Angeles to attend Pepperdine College. When I graduated, jobs and circumstances took me to Northern California.

I now live less than 15 minutes from Coloma, where James Marshall discovered gold in 1848. I have walked the streets there numerous times, and explored the remains of that bygone era to gather historical information for “Ashes of Destiny.” It is also only a short drive to Placerville (Old Hangtown), a town born of the gold rush. Old Hangtown earned its name as a great oak tree there was used to mete out miner's justice to claim jumpers, robbers, and other shady characters of that era.

“Ashes of Destiny” follows the story of Angus Murray, an Englishman who is blessed with great intelligence, but is devoid of the neurological tools necessary to develop a conscience.

In 1848, Angus reads a newspaper account that chronicles the discovery of gold in a faraway place called California, focusing on the small lumber-producing town of Coloma.

It is then that Angus knows that his destiny awaits him in this place; that riches beyond imagination will eventually be his.

In 1849, Angus steps onto the shores of America.  He is no longer Angus Murray; he has changed his identity to Dr. Steven Morgan, noted physician and man of medicine.
In San Francisco, Angus meets Muley Skaggs, a gentle brute of a man, and Quincy Freeman, an intelligent, rough-cut man wise to the ways of the gold country. With these two men, Angus/Dr. Morgan begins his quest to find his destiny.

The journey into the Sierra Nevada Mountains is packed with adventure, intrigue, and murder, and when the small troupe finally arrives at Coloma, they find a place transformed from a small logging town and stage stop to a virtual beehive, with a population of more than 15,000 treasure seekers.

It is there that Angus comes face to face with his destiny.