Charles H. Bertram was born in East St. Louis, Illinois, and escaped by joining the Air Force in 1956, were he was trained to service the radar weapons system of a nuclear armed Jet, the F-89. During summers, his duty was repairing outboard boat motors for special services. He worked his way through Southern Illinois University as a photographer, earning a B.S. in communications. While teaching in Special Education (26 yrs.), he started an apple orchard, did part-time photography, raised three adopted children, and began to write. In 2001, he retied to Florida to write full time and as of 2009, has five books in print.