Richard Sessions

I have written two books, Island Woman, which is now available from Amazon, and Gregory's Anomaly, which has become recently available at Amazon. Island Woman is historical fiction and takes place in the early 1700's off the west coasts of the Americas. Abbie Spence, a recent graduate of Reed College, befriends an eccentric Englishman and soon finds herself stranded back in time against her will. Told from the point of view of Abbie, our heroine encounters Chumash Indians and Spanish warships and then is carried by events to Acapulco, Panama and to Juan Fernandez Island, west of Chile. I enjoyed writing this book and doing research at UCLA to make it an accurate reflection of the history of the period. Suspenseful and sensual, the story is an amazing journey through time.

I call Gregory's Anomaly my academic medical thriller and am pleased it is now available at Amazon, both as eBook and paperback. Whereas Island Woman deals with history and cultures, Gregory's Anomaly involves anthropology, science and academia. A baby with ancient, evolved genes and unusual traits is discovered at a university medical center. The conflicts he presents to university scientists and to society are stunning. The baby is hidden in a rural mountain area to protect him from crazies and to grow up as normally as possible, but he is re-discovered at age twelve, looking slightly Neanderthal. This book is also a page-turner.

As to my background, I am a fourth generation Californian who grew up and attended college in the San Joaquin Valley. After a stint as an intelligence officer in the U.S. Navy, I moved to Los Angeles. I received a Master's degree from USC and landed a position at UCLA in research administration in Pediatrics. I then held other senior administrative positions with medical scientists and engineers while also receiving a second Master's degree from UCLA. After 19 years at that university I was recruited to a neuroscience institute at Oregon Health & Science University, serving 11 years. Following that I co-founded a couple of biotechnology companies. All of these scientific and academic experiences provided grist for the second novel, Gregory's Anomaly.