Larry and his sweetheart, Debbie, of twenty-nine years reside in the Pacific Northwest. They have three sons, three daughters, and two grand-daughters. In about March of 2000, Larry got the bug to write. His goal was to write a book series entitled The Island Gang about a group of kids from Gig Harbor, which is where Larry and his family call home, and their adventures out on the water. In his mind, he hoped these books would be handed down to grand-children, great-grandchildren, and so on, in manuscript form. The idea of becoming published was the farthest thing from his mind and he had no intention of spending the money it would take to self-publish.

Three years later, the first of the series was nearly complete. The manuscript was shared with family members who were anxious to read it as well as friends who were aware of the project, familiar with the setting and some of the characters. After several friends and family members read The Island Gang, Legend of Crystal Cove, they encouraged Larry to check into getting it published.

Larry went to the bookstore and purchased the 2003 volume of “Writer’s Market”; he sent a copy of his manuscript to ~40 publishers and agents that listed YA (young adult) novels as one of their areas of focus.

Forty rejection letters later, he decided it was not meant to be. Months later, however, out of the blue, he heard about Tate Publishing. Unlike the many other publishers he had contacted, Tate would accept an electronic copy of the manuscript. Larry sent it off. Within weeks he had entered into an agreement.

Now, Book 2 of the series, Legend of the Masks, is hot off of the press, and Larry is hard at work on Book 3, Legend of the Orcas. With each volume, the kids are a year older, thus the complexity of their lives and relationships increases, bringing more depth to the storyline.

Larry hopes you will enjoy following The Island Gang series!