James Irwin Kruger

I began writing fiction in 1992 after retiring from a 42-year career as an editor on several newspapers, mainly in California. As you can see from my postings on Author Central, all seven of my novels are currently available online. The seventh, a sequel to Welcome Are Lands entitled Pennington's Patrimony, was released on Dec. 4, 2009 by Infinity Publishing of West Conshohoken, PA.

Blessed with a vivid imagination, and jaded after so many years in journalism, I still find fiction writing an engaging way to occupy my time. After trying my hand at action/adventure stories and murder mysteries, I've settled into historical novels - The Bachelor Portraits, Welcome Are Lands and Pennington's Patrimony.

Long ago, after unsuccessfully seeking a literary agent for some three years, I turned to self-publishing, now with Infinity Publishing.

Why did I fail to find an agent? It goes back to the earliest days of my retirement. I was living in Santa Cruz, CA. (I still maintin home there, although living temporarily in Boulder, CO.) and arranged by telephone to meet an agent at one of my favorite restaurants in San Francisco, where I had worked many years earlier. The agent, a charming young lady, got there first and waved to me as I scanned the restaurant looking for her. Spotting her, I walked briskly toward her until I realized she was not hailing me, she was waving me off while shaking her head "No!".

"Why," I asked. "What's the problem?"

"It's your hair!" she exclaimed. "It's gray."

Then she leveled with me. Young agents (she was all of 35) don't want to deal with "elderly" people. They want young writers who might provide them with income for years, not an old guy like me who might not make it through lunch.

"Sorry," she said, "but you sounded so young on the phone."

Moral: Ageism is alive and well in the publishing industry. But let them have their prejudices. I'll keep right on writing because I enjoy it. And when I reach the end of the line, you will find me slumped over my computer with a big smile on my face. Writing is my first love, and I'll happily take that final grin with me into the hereafter.