Kirk Landers launched his professional writing career in the U.S. Army, writing profiles of his fellow Basic Trainees for the post newspaper in return for getting out of KP and guard duty. After military service, he worked for a suburban shopper, then became a staff writer and editor for an RV magazine. Over the next decade, he was the chief editor for two special interest magazines and a staff writer for Time-Life Books.

 

In the mid-Eighties, he entered the trade magazine world as a chief editor, first with a title in the food industry, then in the construction industry. Over the next 20 years, his magazines won dozens of awards for journalistic excellence.

 

In 2001, Landers and several colleagues purchased two failed trade magazines and spent the next six years building them into valuable properties. Landers managed the company's editorial efforts and contributed to the company's extensive market research. The partners sold their company in 2007. After he completed his obligations to the acquiring company in 2008, Landers became a full time free lance, writing for a variety of construction magazines and learning the craft of writing long fiction.

 

He has published other books under a pen name, but used his own name for Alone on the Shield because it is about the things he's passionate about--Quetico, war, courage and adventure.

 

Landers is married, has three children and seven grandchildren. His military service included an 18-month stint in Vietnam. He has a BA from Drake University. He is an avid wilderness paddler, a passable fisherman, and a dedicated workout maven. He lives in the suburbs of Chicago, but hopes to spend his next life in Canada, preferably not as a mosquito.