: About Me

Born on January 6th 1960 during a blizzard in Bronxville, New York and raised in the suburbs of the city, I, John Richard Karlsson found New York to be my very own playground as I was growing up. From the subway rides, museums, high rise buildings with elevator races, to the sea port, beaches and Yankee Stadium there was never anytime for being bored. (we had no computers or video games, if we wanted to do something it wasn't going to be sitting in front of a screen)

As I completed high school in the tenth grade with a GED, I found myself selling recreational vehicles at the age of 16 which has left me on a journey of various sales and management positions in both the barbecue, hearth and the automobile business for the past thirty three years.

At the age 24, I discovered that even with my "hands on" experience, I was lacking a formal education. Writing has always been a passion of mine, I was an editor and founder of my second grade class and continued on the school paper through to high school. I attended St. Petersburg College in Florida and received my AA in journalism. In order to pay my way through college I was a bartender in a salty Gulfport bar called Nell's that featured two pool tables and a cast of interesting regulars. The bar was at the foot of the walking pier of the Boca Ciega Bay that leads to the Gulf of Mexico.

Although I love to write, I never pursued a career in journalism, as I was just graduating I left for Fort Lauderdale to join my brother and close friend in a venture building the "corporate jet" of ground transportation, The Execucoach, a nine passenger front wheel drive custom motorhome that was finished as a mobile board room complete with rest room and galley. Years ahead of our time the business never took off.

This lead me to a 21 year career in the barbecue and hearth industry where I had worked with major companies, such as Mr. Bar-B-Q, Sureheat Manufactures and Kodar Corporation, my true passion is cooking, so I really enjoyed the barbeque end of the business. Not realizing enough earnings to support my new and growing family, I returned to the car business as first a sales associate in a Lincoln and than Cadillac dealership, where I was gifted some of the most intense sales training I ever received. I currently am a sales manager for an independent used car dealership and am very grateful not to be caught up in the new car dealers problems.

I have found a great home here in Helium and love the ability to write and be rated to help sharpen my skills as I prepare a new career at the ripe age of 50, in the wonderful world of journalism, I am hoping to be as successful as I am happy in writing as I have been in selling. I have a ten year old "mini me" that I need to provide both financial and moral values. God is my light in the path of life I follow, I have been distracted with many shadows of that light and hope that I will continue to see in the brightness.

My passion is ...

Cooking, Id rather spend a night in the kitchen than sitting in a restaurant

I know too much about ...

Nothing, Tell me more Tell me more

My parents always told me ...

If you don't have anything nice to say Don't say anything at all

My childhood ambition ...

I wanted to be a pilot

My favorite memory ...

Being with my Grandfather

Why I write ...

Because I can't shut up

What I am reading/watching/listening to ...

The NY Post/The Sopranos? The Quess Who

My first job ...

Washing Recreational Vehicles

My best moment ...

Has yet to be lived

My inspiration ...

My Son

Creative Writing > Novel Excerpts Novel excerpts: Mystery stories for young adult readers

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Merrideth, New York is a small city about 40 miles northwest of New York City with a population of around 25,000 people. That is including Tommy, Steven, Gerry and Addison four friends that had just graduated from The Merrideth Middle School and began their summer vacation the past Friday. It was June 14th, Tuesday morning, a beautiful day and they planned riding on the bike trail that passed through town and was connected to the Appalachian Mountain Trail. Hoping to find and discover a big adventure, their wildest dreams would not have imagined what would happen to them that day. Friday w...

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