John J. Barnes

I've placed my Barry and Rebecca Forester adventure series in cities I've lived in and liked. To keep current with changes since my last visit, I've used Google to search out photographs, street maps and historical details. Having enjoyed these mental trips, I'm planning additional Barry and Rebecca Forester books for Bangkok, Thailand, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Warsaw, Poland, Palm Springs, California, and Detroit, Michigan. I'm currently finishing 'Death in LA,' which I hope to publish by end of 2012. We'll see. I write every day but don't worry so much about deadlines. The books publish when I feel they're ready.

Much of my work life has been spent in Europe and Asia, where I've picked up wildly varying degrees of competency in French, German, Arabic, Thai, and Polish. This led to doctoral work in languages and critical theory at Wayne State University in Detroit, not too far from the suburb where I then lived. At Cornell University in Ithica, New York, I focused on critical theory.

My Harvard undergraduate degree is in Economics, insisted on by my father, who was paying the bills. Other than learning the methodology, Economics has not been much of an influence on my choice of subject matter, but then again, maybe it has. Most of the problems protagonists Barry and Rebecca Forester deal with involve money, how it moves about and who is receiving it legally or otherwise.

As for critical theory, it opened my mind to identity, what it is and isn't, and how and what it may or may not signify. Both Barry and Rebecca spend a lot of time disguising themselves, thus creating multiple identities. My book 'Retirement: One man's adventures exploring life's final frontier' investigates the meaning of identity extensively but, I hope, not self-consciously, meaning if you didn't know my intention, you'd not be aware of it. The book is available on Kindle as well as Amazon.com along with the Barry and Rebecca Forester adventures.

Since leaving Detroit in March of 2002, I've lived in San Marino, Pasadena and am currently a home owner in a Del Webb development in Indio, California.