Charlie Sheldon studied at Yale University and the University of
Massachusetts, where he received a Master's Degree in Wildlife
Biology and Resource Management. He then went to sea as a
commercial fisherman off New England, fishing for cod, haddock,
hake, lobster, red crab, squid, and swordfish. He spent 28 years
working for seaports (New York, Seattle, and Bellingham, WA) as
a project and construction manager and later as an executive,
including habitat cleanup projects and working with Puget Sound
Tribes to reduce tribal fishing conflicts. Later he returned to sea,
shipping out with the Sailor's Union of the Pacific as an Ordinary
Seaman, Able Bodied Seaman, and Bosun. His last gig was as
bosun aboard USNS Shughart, New Orleans to New York, in 2016.
Always a writer, he published Fat Chance with Felony and Mayhem
Press in 2005. He began working on ideas for Strong Heart, Adrift, and Totem, his tales
about the Olympic Mountains, the Pacific coast, and human
origins long, long ago and began serious research in 2010. These
days he hikes in the Olympics whenever he can, cooks for his wife,
and continues to write tales in Tacoma, Washington.