Life & Work
Five decades of stories
From a Penn State byline to a sixth novel — the newsrooms, magazines, books, and detours in between.
The Newsroom Years
- Late 1970s
First bylines at Penn State
Begins writing professionally as a student, then lands a first job at The Express in Easton, Pennsylvania.
- 1980s
The Pittsburgh Press
Night cops, courts, politics, and the state legislature — the classic newspaper apprenticeship, in the city where he was raised, with early reporting on poverty in southwestern Pennsylvania.
- 1980s–90s
The Orange County Register
Nine years of reporting that ranged from Nevada’s Mustang Ranch to the L.A. riots, revolution in Manila, pre-glasnost Siberia, and the early days of cyberspace. Across a fifteen-year newspaper career, his journalism earned more than fifty writing awards.
The Memory Series
- 1997
Time Release
A debut thriller introducing Pittsburgh memory expert Jim Christensen. Anthony Award finalist. James Ellroy called it “a spellbindingly accomplished first novel.”
- 1998
Shadow Image
Named a Best Summer Read by Publishers Weekly.
- 2001
Straw Men
Finalist for both the Edgar and Barry awards.
- 2014
The Disappeared Girl
The fourth Christensen novel, published after the series' digital revival brought the trilogy to a new generation of readers.
The Magazine Chapter
- 2000–2007
Senior editor, Los Angeles Times Magazine
Editing long-form journalism at one of the country’s great Sunday magazines.
- 2007–2016
Editor-in-chief, Orange Coast
Under his editorship the magazine was named best city/metro magazine in the western United States five times — including four consecutive years — while he edited writers such as Anne Lamott, Walter Mosley, Amy Tan, Janet Fitch, and James Ellroy.
The Nonfiction Shelf
- 2004 & 2006
Poplorica and Oops
Two romps through American popular history with co-author Patrick J. Kiger. “All history should be this much fun.” —Publishers Weekly
- 2012
The Wild Duck Chase
Inside the Federal Duck Stamp Contest — the only juried art competition run by the U.S. government.
Watch the trailer for The Million Dollar Duck → - 2016
The Million Dollar Duck
The documentary based on The Wild Duck Chase wins both the Jury and Audience awards at Slamdance, then airs on Animal Planet.
- 2017
Mr. Las Vegas Has a Bad Knee
Essays from three decades in the American Southwest. “One of the best nonfiction writers today.” —Los Angeles Review of Books
- 2021
Going to Trinidad
The improbable story of a small Colorado town that became a world crossroads of gender surgery. Colorado Book Award finalist.
Listen: History Colorado’s Lost Highways podcast →
Teaching & Community
- Six years
“Writing the Novel,” Chapman University
Plus staff work at California’s Community of Writers and co-founding the Grand County Community of Writers in Colorado.
- 2011
- 2020
“Scripting Act Three”
The Dorothy Marie Lowry Lecture, Saddleback College — on writing the later chapters, on the page and off.
Watch the talk → - Ongoing
Grand County, Colorado
Two years as board president of Habitat for Humanity of Grand County, where he still swings a hammer on the construction committee. Essays on aging at The Shitshow Observed on Substack.
Read the Substack →
Now
- 2026
27 Knots
The sixth novel — a story of war, memory, and moral injury, five decades in the making. Coming November 24 from Open Road Media.
About the book →