Bio

As I hobble about on terrible knees and look at my own scars, I know I earned them, every one of them. Few regrets. When raised with family Aiken, you just hear “Oh, my Aiken back” or “Oh, my Aiken feet” too often. I too, now, sing that song too.

During the summer of 2026, I became at least the 4th Nana Aiken with the presentation of a young Charlie to the family. I am the fourth of the name and proud of it. I have made the promise to use quiet weekends to read each of the children’s classics to tape as a real-along and entertainment.

Professionally, I recognized that I spent 34 years of my life with official federal agency credentials with a wide variety of clearances from this to that. While proud of my time, I’m glad I am done. There are decades of stories from which I can pull another novel without much effort.

Prior to the federal stuff, I worked as a professional sailor on schooners and other sailboats. I worked as a professional ski instructor (telemark, alpine, nordic, adaptive). I’ve hiked huge chunks of the Appalachian Trail. I also participated in the production of 4 highly technical books by Que Publishing as contributing author and technical editor.

Novels (So Far)

My work career has been bookended by working in emergency medical services. As a kid, I worked in metro-Boston (yeah, Boston Mass) as an EMT in the 1980s. Then after a year in Iraq, I trained as a critical care paramedic and worked ambulances in rural New England (western Mass, Vermont, and New Hampshire). These experiences led to the writing of The Little Ambulance War of Winchester County.

My second novel revolves around a fraud case, or a pair of fraud case, in Vermont related to crooked real estate developers and ski/resort areas. Stolen Mountain explores a case here in southern Vermont that ran nearly current with a ski-area fraud case in northern Vermont at Jay Peak. Stolen Mountain explores the real human cost of this case to the region I live in.

My third novel, Captain Henry: 2 ½ Insurrections, 2 Wars, 1 ¼ Centuries, and a Story of Love, results from my love of genealogy & historic research plus my time in Iraq as a civilian member of the U.S. Army. I was already credentialed and engaged with missions and tasks within both the U.S. Army and U.S. Air Force in 2001 when the attacks of 9/11 hit, but I never anticipated walking the desert with an 80lb / 35kg pack on my back in “battle rattle” at the age of 40+.

Novel #4, also known as “2027” because I publish a novel-per-year and for a while they are just called by their anticipated release date. “2027” has a name now. It will be called the “Fundraiser: a matchmaking event in the wilds of Vermont” (I do love me a long title). It is a novella that explore the flash moment of “meet cute” and vignettes of other amazing kinds of love. While I’ve never written a play, they could also be a play. ¿Porque no los dos?

Short Stories

I strive to write and publish a short story each month. Some have won awards, others will too (so says I). As of the fall of 2026, there are approximately 30 short stories. My passion is to write about public servants, public service, and those who step towards trouble. It is a world I know and people I’ve loved. We’re all a little damaged from the decades we’ve spent answering the call. If I connect to one veteran medic, firefighter, cop, soldier then I feel good about my efforts.

Legacy

I am both a nepo-baby and not a nepo-baby. I am a third generation novelist. My grandfather published dozens of books in the early 1900s and several movies. He and part of his family were tied to the early theatre business. The pattern for that family is either writing or military. His films are lost due to the volatility of early film media. He was a librarian at a New England college before becoming a nationally syndicated news guy on the NBC Red Network during WWII and the years after.

My father was also a novelist with dozens of books and several movies. The most recent came out 15 years after his death (not bad for a dead guy).

While proud of the early lessons in story telling, our relationship ended abruptly over 40 years ago. I’ve never tried to or wanted to pull out the nepo card for access to cool shit.

Nice saying: third generation novelist.

Benefits: None, so far.

Frustrating knowing that for the prior generations, the job of novelling paid bills. I write better than both of those ancestors and get paid a ton less.