James Charles Smith is a talented author who embarked on a journey from journalism to engineering before finding his true calling as a novelist. Born in Texas, he traveled widely as a US Air Force brat and then with his own wife and kids. He first attended college at the United States Air Force Academy and resigned during his first year, which is the inspiration for this story. He is a graduate of the Missouri School of Journalism from the University of Missouri. Following journalism school, he worked for various newspapers before settling down in television production. He worked for ten years as a writer, editor, cameraman, and producer/director, but it’s a family tradition to change one’s mind.
To better provide for his family, James returned to school for an engineering degree. As both an engineer and engineering manager, his duties included the writing and publishing of technical reports, engineering investigations, and training materials. Serving as a consultant to the Electric Power Research Institute, he edited their report on the instrumentation and control upgrade plan for the commercial nuclear power industry. Currently, he lives with his dog, Abel, in the foothills of Georgia’s Blue Ridge Mountains. Flightless Falcon is his first novel.
