Gary Fields was born in Brooklyn, raised in Queens, and dreamed of playing centerfield for the Yankees. But music and lyrics were always in his heart. He started writing poetry early on, enamored with meter and rhymes. As an undergraduate at SUNY Albany, he taught himself guitar and wrote a song on the first two chords he learned. Three hundred songs later, he performed professionally for a time as a solo acoustic artist around New York City. But the real world, and the limits on his musical talents, came calling.

He’d hoped to become a lawyer. Again, it was the words. Putting words together convincingly, poetically, passionately, on behalf of his clients. But, as a college freshman, he’d been warned that there were too many lawyers and not enough jobs. So he earned a degree in math/computer science and went on to program and design computer systems for American Express and Ryder Trucks.

Making corporations more efficient, it turned out, didn’t appeal to him. He and the love of his life, his wife, Debbie, decided to put themselves through law school at night at the University of Miami. Three grueling years later, they earned their degrees. It was there, in Coral Gables, where he first was entranced by banyan trees.

Gary and Debbie settled in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, where they raised their two sons, David and Dan, and their daughter, Lauren, along with Goldie, their golden retriever. Gary coached youth sports for eighteen years, coaching all three kids in basketball, his boys in Little League, and his daughter in softball.

He built a law practice specializing in community associations and soon found himself pulled into civic activism in the local community. He ended up leading a six-thousand-person volunteer effort to control a major airport planned nearby. After a multi-year battle that included a media campaign, coordination with a roster of aviation experts, and arduous negotiations with county and city governments, Gary’s team succeeded in keeping the airport a small, tightly regulated facility. The experience meshed with Gary’s interest in individual rights. That, along with his passion for historical fiction and thrillers, led him back, again, to the words.

The Book of Judges is Gary’s first novel. He is currently working on a sequel. Gary and Debbie now live in Southern California, close to the rest of their family.