Mike Lawson

I was raised in Pueblo, Colorado with a passel of brothers and one sister, then attended college at Seattle University and got a degree in engineering. After college, I went to work for the U.S. Navy as a nuclear engineer and spent about thirty years working for the Navy’s nuclear power program. I spent some time in Washington D.C., but most of my career was at a large naval shipyard in Bremerton Washington. At the shipyard I managed a number of different organizations related to overhauling nuclear powered submarines, cruisers, and aircraft carriers. I ended my career as a member of the government’s Senior Executive Service and as the top civilian at the shipyard responsible for navy reactor plant work on the West Coast. The influence of my former career on my writing is discussed briefly in the “Behind the Books” section of this website. So how’d I go from nuclear engineering to writing? The short answer is I like to write, it’s fun for me, so I tried my hand at it. I tell people if you want to be a writer you need some talent, a lot of persistence, and a whole lot of luck – probably more luck than talent. In 2004, I got very lucky: a fantastic agent liked The Inside Ring and got me a two book deal with a publisher. I've subsequently published seven novels and the eighth will be coming out in 2013. After that, who knows? Regarding my personal life, let’s just leave at: I’m married, live in the Pacific Northwest, and when I’m not writing I mostly just goof around.