About the Author

Hi! I'm Gary Alan Henson.



My Mom named me after her movie heartthrobs, Gary Cooper and Alan Ladd, so it's 'Alan' not 'Allen' or 'Allan'. One of those things I've had to correct people on all my life.

Seems like a small thing, right?

I've had to correct just about every document I've ever signed, including the bazillion documents I signed in the US Navy.

You can read more about my Navy career below.

Writing:



I published my first book, 'Genome', in 2006 on Nook Press and then Amazon under KDP self-publishing. I've always wanted to publish a book and decided this new Indie Publishing thing was just what I needed. No cost, easy to format, etc, etc. ;-)

'Genome' started life as a screenplay. That's what I really wanted to be, a screenwriter for Hollywood!! After a number of 'Thanks, but it's not right for us.' and form letters saying basically 'move to LA and try again', I saw the light. I'm a little naive that way. Silly me.

When Nook Press and KDP came out I decided to try that venue instead. I haven't looked back since. I would still love to be a Hollywood Screenwriter, but my forehead is already flat enough from pounding it against the wall in frustration. Hollywood seems to be a very closed community with no desire to welcome newbie writers into the fold.

So I published 'Genome' and started on a funny SciFi series 'Arlo and Jake'. 

I love movies like 'Guardians of the Galaxy' and 'Galaxy Quest', where there is great action and a healthy helping of fun and humor. I also wanted to 'write what I know', so the series has plenty of references to my time in the US Navy Nuclear Submarine service (see stuff below) and plenty of software and Artificial Intelligence concepts. I think you'll really like 'Pip', my AI character in 'Genome'.

I currently have 10 books out.
Genome - a paranormal/biotech thriller
Arlo and Jake series - 5 pure fun and action SciFi stories
Walk with Me - paranormal romance
Etchings - pure ghost story, but you can call it 'paranormal' if that floats your boat
The Ogre's Door - a ghost short story
Invasion of the Aquanoids - a fun, funny SciFi spoof with 'Squiddie' aliens fighting WWII diesel submarine heroes! Iron Men in Steel Boats fight again!

I want to get some of my short stories into SciFi/Fantasy magazines like Asimov and Analog. I have a subscription to those mags and others and I love reading a few stories before I zonk out for the night.

As you would expect I've been rejected by several magazines over the last year of submitting, but I'm determined to write better stories until I get one accepted! Every rejection makes me more determined to become a better author and get published!


Navy

I served in the US Navy Nuclear Submarine Force for 8 years, from 1970 to 1978, as a Machinist Mate and Engineering Laboratory Technician. Here's a photo of my first sub, the USS Bluefish SSN 675. She was a Sturgeon Class fast attack submarine. You can check out her Navy history here: http://www.navsource.org/archives/08/08675.htm


I entered the Navy at 17 to see the world! And I did! Through the lens of a periscope mostly. ;-)

After a 2 year tour on Ole' Blue I spent a few years at the Naval Propulsion Training Unit outside of Idaho Falls, Idaho. Yeah, Idaho. It was called the Naval Reactors Facility and housed 3 Nuclear Power training Prototypes. You can read more about on Wikipedia. It's closed now. Like many things in my life it seems that the world moved on after I left in the mid 70s.

After a stint as an Instructor at the S5G facility there I shipped out to Mare Island Naval Shipyards in California to serve as Leading ELT for the USS Tautog SSN 639.


She was in dry dock being refitted. Not the best billet I had, I must say. Not the crew or the boat's fault though. By the time I got there I only had 6 months to serve before I was exiting the Navy. I had decided not to make a career out of the Navy like my older brother. I wanted to get into computers and a Machinist Mate (MM) is a polar opposite to that.

The Navy doesn't allow you to move from one discipline to another, especially after they have invested so much time and training into you. So to get my shot at computers and programming I punched my ticket and returned to civilian life in Longmont Colorado.

Check out this site for WWll submarines that are still afloat as museums. I highly recommend visiting this amazing vessels to get a sense of what it was like to be 'Iron Men and Steel Boats'.

Civilian Work History



After 8 years in the Navy I returned to civilian status and worked at several jobs I should have passed on but didn't. I finally got into software and never looked back.

I've done low-level drivers, embedded systems, a Roof Fall Warning system for coal mines. I've written video, tablet, mouse and printer/plotter drivers for Hitachi's CadCore CAD package. I got into test programming early on and carried it through most of my career by writing test and conversion programs.

I got extremely lucky in my later years and landed a great job with an amazing company, NeoTool, working on tools and applications for the health care industry. NeoTool morphed into Corepoint Health, LLC and then finally Lineate. I retired from CPH in 2018. 

CPH was by far the best software company of my career and I'll just say that it was the best company on the planet. I miss my co-workers everyday now. Wonderful people and best C-Suite group ever!

Now that I'm retired I still do some programming, but just for fun. 



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