About the Author

Joel began writing professionally at a later age. At first, he wrote short non-fiction articles for Black Belt Magazine and Inside Kung Fu. And then it was on to test passage writing for CTB McGraw-Hill. Later, (it took a while) he was able to get stories published for Cricket, a children's literary magazine. The Pigeon Man (Pants On Fire Press) is his first novelette. A Hanukah with Mazel (Kar-Ben Publication 2016) as well as The Capture of Rafael Ortega (Pants On Fire Press, 2016) are forthcoming. There are many, many authors he admires. Among those who have influenced his writing are: Robert Cormier, Gary Soto, I B Singer, Bernard Malamud, and E L Doctorow. Joel currently lives in Florida with his wife, his son, his two birds, and a tortoise. When not writing, Joel enjoys playing the viola or practicing Tai Chi Chuan.