"November Wind" by Bob Amason

 – a school of hard knocks

Learning what makes for success is its own education.

Bob Amason is a retired US Air Force Lieutenant Colonel who was a college professor for 25 years. A member of the Florida Writer’s Association, Bob writes under his pen name, Frank A. Mason. Bob is author of The Journeyman Chronicles, a series of novels about the adventures of a young master gunsmith caught up in the American Revolution. Bob Amason lives in St Augustine, Florida, with his overachieving wife who is a research professor and author of a forthcoming series of children’s books.

Author’s Talk

Bob Amason

About 40 years ago, I stepped into a classroom as an instructor for the first time. I had an epiphany: I was meant to teach. That moment of reflection set my life’s course. When I retired from being a college professor, I immediately started writing historical novels. Why? Well, I was tired of grading papers, but I still wanted to teach. What better way to teach than to write stories? Thinking back over all those years as an educator, I realized that my classroom style always included storytelling. Transitioning to a full-time storyteller was a natural evolution. 

Writing stories offered the chance to share my life-long interest in military history. Ancestry research added to my stories. I discovered that my fifth great grandfather, Stafford Somersall, was an 11-year-old militia man in 1779 when he was captured by British regulars at the fall of Fort Morris near Sunbury, Georgia. It was not difficult to imagine him, still a child, dodging cannon balls while carrying a musket that was longer than he was tall. You can bet young Private Somersall will appear in a future book! 

I continue to hone my writing craft under the pen name, Frank A. Mason. In the past year I have written the first two books in the Journeyman Chronicles series of the American Revolution:  Journeyman: The Bridge and Journeyman: Heart of Tempered Steel. I also published a modern suspense novel entitled Blue-Green for the Grave. I have contributed to two compilations of personal stories and am currently working on two screenplays. The third Journeyman book, Honor Fades Not, is on the drawing board. I have plans for two other series, the Good Lord willin’ and the creek don’t rise. 

Becoming a full-time author helped me to realize that I, too, am a journeyman: Military Officer, College Professor, Writer – always a storyteller. The journey continues.—Bob Amason