About Steve

Steve Martaindale / Author, pizza eater

(Q) Why am I here?

(A) To entertain, maybe even inform. Also, to entice you to (1) buy and read my books, (2) follow and continue reading this blog and (3) encourage all of your many friends to do the same. Do I get extra credit for being honest?

I tell stories. Sometimes they’re called lies, but that’s a fine point. The more entertaining stories I like to share with others and I’ve done so for more years than I can count without borrowing your fingers and toes.

My books – currently numbering seven (though the first two are presently published as one paperback) – follow the crime-solving adventures of JP Weiscarver, a newspaper reporter in a small city on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico.

Learn more about them on the page cleverly titled “Steve’s Books.”

This blog, however, is not as easily categorized as the books. It is subject to sometimes violent and unsettling fluctuations that range from trips down Memory Lane to a lesson learned from the death of Robin Williams.

Others may delve into inadvisable depths and locations of my mind.

And … just between you and me … following this blog will make you my third or fourth bestest friend on Earth.

How do you follow? Find “Follow Blog via Email,” enter your email address and click the follow button. You’ll be notified of a new post and can, at your first opportunity, rush over to read it and share it and squeeze it and name it George. If you have a WordPress account or desire to create one, just click the blue “Follow Steve Martaindale” button and watch the magic happen.

You’re nosy? That’s OK

My background includes not a single solved murder, but I have worked more than 20 years at various small daily newspapers around Texas. I’ve also lived in four different cities on or near the Gulf of Mexico. I draw from all of those experiences to come up with believable characters and story lines. You will never read in this series about someone jumping off a bridge onto a speeding train.

I did work one austral summer as a journalist in Antarctica, which gave me the ability to write a believable story based on the Ice. Summers working at Yellowstone National Park and Mount Rushmore National Memorial helped background another book. You get the idea.

Married since 1977 to Leah, an amazing woman who taught in public schools for 25 years and continues to encourage my story-telling. We have one daughter. She and her husband have blessed us with a grandson.

Leah and I have worked summers since 2013 in national parks and an amusement park. We love to travel and recently visited South America, which enables me to say I’ve traveled to all seven continents. Read about our travels and such from the Expeditions page. We’ve even started another blog called Dream Chasing 101 for the purpose of encouraging and informing others on getting out there and following their dreams.

Conversation starters

A few useless facts about me:

I am a Libra, but I’m not sure what that means.

My favorite movie is “Casablanca,” but my tastes vary. My IMDb list of films receiving a 10-out-of-10 rating range from “The Godfather” to “A League of Their Own.”

My favorite color is blue, but I do not know why. My wife says I look good wearing green, but she’s not very critical.

Maybe I look good in green because I’m part Irish. At least, the totally unsubstantiated family story is some forefather was chased from Ireland to North America as a murderer.

Speaking of the European invasion, I’m also at least 1/32 Cherokee. That’s also not verifiable. An incredibly patient lady at the Bureau of Indian Affairs told me to not doubt my heritage because many Native Americans refused to “enroll” with the government. I like to think I’m from such a line of non-conformists.

I don’t really listen to music an awful lot, but I prefer oldies rock ’n’ roll and Jimmy Buffett. I suggested to my wife she should play Buffett’s “He Went to Paris” at my funeral, but I’m not sure she took me seriously. (Yes, I really mean it.)

I am the eldest child with one brother and one sister. I feel rather close to both, but we hardly ever see each other.

I’m not a swimmer. I can beat the water and stay afloat for a short while but have no desire to learn just how long that is. Actually, it’s been many years since I’ve done that much.

Did I mention I love all-meat pizza?

Oh, the photo at top … it’s from the extreme cold weather parka provided me when I worked in Antarctica. While my last name is often messed up, they misspelled my first name and I blacked out the “N” to correct it. That was more important than one would think because our three-person staff also included a Steven.