My Redroom URL

• http://www.redroom.com/member/steel-stonehenge

About Me

• I was born and raised in Silicon Valley (back when it was Vacuum Tube Valley), practically "right down the barrel" of the Stanford Linear Accelerator. I have always been a science geek. In 1976, the call of the wild brought me to the wilds of Alaska, only to find myself in even higher tech careers than I had been in before, first as a broadcast engineer, and then as a development engineer at UCLA's Hipas Observatory, just east of Fairbanks. It was at Hipas Observatory in 1987 that the genesis of my Plasma Dreams series, (Plasma Dreams, Steel Stonehenge, and Vengeance is Mine) occurred. It has been my goal to portray scientific research in the most realistic way possible, without it seeming like a doctoral dissertation. I think I was fairly successful at that with Plasma Dreams. I have also been a fairly regular contributor to QST, QEX, and other electronics trade magazines for the past 30 years or so.

Relationship Status

• I have been married 31 years to Priscilla. We have four children, three grandchildren, three cats, and a few grandcats.

Family

• My father, John B. Nichols was a helicopter engineer of some note, somewhat of a pioneer of early Silicon Valley at the end of the 1940s. My mother, Betty Jane Paulsen, is a classically trained painter, as was her mother, Hildegarde Paulsen.

Interests & Hobbies

• Amateur radio (I can still copy Morse code at 45 words a minute), restoring vintage radio equipment, oil painting, playing electric bass, astronomy and physics, songwriting, and most recently, moviemaking.

Favorite Books

• Hunt for Red October, Fondling your Muse, The Complete Sherlock Holmes, Buy Jupiter, Letters from Earth, Joy Luck Club, 200 Meters and Down, Six Easy Pieces, The Tao of Physics, The Privileged Planet, Jubal Sackett, Fahrenheit 451.

Favorite Authors

• King Solomon, Ray Bradbury, Rod Serling, Amy Tan, Alfred Hitchcock, Ian Fleming, C.S. Lewis, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Isaac Asimov, Robert Service, Velma Wallis.

What I'm Reading

• Hackers and Painters, by Paul Graham, The Complete Sherlock Holmes, Counting Heads by Dave Marusek, Two Years Before the Mast,by R.H. Dana.

WORK

• My current official title is "Electronic Warfare Range Specialist." I could tell you what that means, but then I'd have to shoot you. My goal is to make enough of a living with my creative efforts to not have to have a "real job" any more. I'm not sure if I'm making much progress in that direction, but at least my bills are paid. :)

Web Links

• http://ericnichols.net

EDUCATION

UPCOMING WORK

• Steel Stonehenge (after which being published, I suppose I will need to find a new "handle"), Vengeance is Mine, The Opus of Amateur Radio Knowledge and Lore, and The Spirit of the Craftsman. And a continuous stream of short technical articles in QST, QEX and other trade magazines.

INFLUENCES

• Tom Clancy, Ian Fleming, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, King Solomon, Amy Tan, Frank Zappa, Nigey Lennon.

CAUSES I SUPPORT

• Free Burma Rangers, Partners Ministries (Thailand), Literacy council of Alaska, Access Alaska.

UNIVERSITY AFFILIATION

• UCLA, UAF