About Me

I have always been a cowboy at heart.

Jim in UM chemistry lab
Bascom Hall
Jim standing next to airplane

PhD Organic Chemistry

U of Minnesota

410 Laboratory

MBA Finance

U of Wisconsin

Bascom Hall

First solo

Cessna 150

Flight

Associate Professor of Finance, Emeritus.

Dakota State University,

Madison, SD

With the Wall Street Bull New York City

I live on an old farmstead in rural South Dakota, where the West begins. Ten acres surrounded by fields and woods. I call it the Broken Wheel Ranch. It doesn’t get any better than to be sitting at a campfire after dark and listening to the coyotes keening in the darkness.

photo of view to the west on ranch
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I have always been fascinated by 19th-century American history, especially the Old West (and the Civil War). I have many books on the human and natural history of the American West.  I travel regularly out West, enjoying the trips and always seeking inspiration and authenticity for my Westerns.

selfie at Lost Dutchman State Park
Lost Dutchman State Park, AZ
selfie at Ft Phil Kearny Wagon Box fight
Wagon Box Fight site, Fort Phil Kearny, WY
selfie at Bryce Canyon, UT
Bryce Canyon National Park, UT
selfie at Chaco Canyon, NM, Pueblo Bonito
Pueblo Bonito, Chaco Canyon National Monument, NM
selfie at Goosenecks State Park, UT
Goosenecks State Park UT
selfie at Custer House
Custer Home, Fort Lincoln State Park, ND