Kent Lester, bio

A science nut at an early age, I used to torment my parents with backyard explosions, cultures of bizarre microbes, and model rocket launches. A fan of the old TV show Sea Hunt, I began scuba diving at age fifteen.  I attended the University of Georgia with dreams of majoring in oceanography.  Two years into my degree, my advisor insisted that my career would likely consist of cleaning test tubes in a puke-stained lab on some ship plying the North Atlantic.  I got cold feet and changed my major to business, but I never lost my fascination and enthusiasm for the natural world.  Over the last thirty years, I’ve continued my studies of oceanography, biology, complexity theory and other sciences as a hobby.  I’ve attended bioterrorism training at the Centers for Disease Control and serve on the St. Joseph’s Hospital Biosafety Committee.  My novel, The Sixth Extinction, grew from a wellspring of childlike curiosity with the origin of life, and from a dare made by a colleague to broaden my writing skills.

My professional life has been varied, due to an interest in how the world works.  My entrepreneurial ventures have included:

•  Opening a professional photography business in North Carolina at age 23.  Later in my career I was involved in the startup of two more photography ventures, one being the national retail chain Glamour Shots.

• Learning how to program one of the first personal computers in the late seventies to automate my business.

• Obtaining a Georgia Real Estate Brokers license.

• Starting a residential construction company in Atlanta.  The experience I gained there eventually led to my first book, The Complete Guide to Contracting Your Home, now with over 250,000 copies in print and still selling.

• Selling accounting and CAD-CAM software to the construction industry.

• Founding a technology and productivity consulting firm, Unitech Associates.  I remain active in this field when not writing.

• Developing The Writer’s Archetype, a software application for fiction writers. Aspiring writers can store and categorize their favorite passages in a database for easy retrieval.  They can share their favorites with other users through viral software enhancement.  The Writer’s Archetype also contains the world’s most powerful character name generator with over 100,000 domestic and foreign names in its database.

All these ventures have one thing in common: A desire to solve problems and share the solutions with others.  To me, the thrill of life is in learning everything you can before you die.  I eventually realized that writing was the perfect outlet for this desire, so I have decided to make writing a full time career.  Every new book is a challenge, with its own unique demons to slay.

I currently live in Atlanta, Georgia with my wife Penny.  We love to sail, travel, photograph, hike, and scuba dive.  I have personally dived off the shores of the Bay Islands of Honduras where The Sixth Extinction takes place.

My writing portfolio reflects my diverse background.

Favorite Authors: Douglas Preston-Lincoln Childs, Michael Crichton, Tess Gerritsen, Nancy Kress, Richard Preston, Ridley Pearson, John Case, Ken Follett

Favorite Pastimes: Travel, flying, sailing with my wonderful wife Penny, hiking, photography, and anything of a scientific or technological nature.

Favorite travel destinations: Tahiti, New Zealand, Bay Islands of Honduras, Ireland, England, Octoberfest in Munich, Hawaii

Favorite beer: Sweetwater 420, brewed in Atlanta

Favorite Agent: My fantastic agent, Susan Crawford!