Author Bio

I'm a husband, a father of three grown sons, and a career writer for the science and technology industries. With real work consuming the full week-plus, I started serious work on this thriller, THE MINE, in 2003 and completed it in the fall of 2009. Countless early mornings and cups of black coffee were surrendered to writing this novel and I enjoyed almost every minute of it.

I was born in the Pacific Northwest and spent my early youth on a farm in Washington's Olympic Peninsula. That life on the Peninsula has never left me. In addition to the dogs and cats every farmhouse has, we had our milk cows, chickens, and horses, along with all of their predators: fox, coyote, cougar, and even bear. Our little collie mix, Bimbo, was our one valiant protector.

The Pacific Northwest is breath taking for its beauty and gives me a deep appreciation for the natural world. My siblings and I swam in the cleanest lakes, caught trout, dug clams, spied on the red fox with her kits, and never knew that any particular day was exceptional. Every state has its gems, whether it’s Minnesota’s Lakes, the Sierra’s of California, or Florida’s re-emerging Everglades. We must protect these places. Regardless of your politics, the beauty of this land is a heritage that defines us. Whether you hunt with a gun or a camera, whether you explore the country from horseback, the Interstate, or Amtrack, when you see it, you understand.

I've always enjoyed books. The written word is such a powerful communicator: a channel to explore human motivations and experiences that resonate in each of us, across time, across ideologies, even across national boundaries. So I set out to write my first novel and began looking for a compelling story.

I remembered, years ago, watching a television documentary, it may have been Frontline, about a then-new method of gold mining that opened up vast, terraced craters in the earth and used tons of deadly sodium cyanide. The practice was bizarre and dangerous, and worst of all, the consequences were permanent. After the gold has been exhausted, the site, square miles in size, is usually so polluted and toxic that no cleanup and reclamation activities can ever hope to restore it to its natural, life-supporting state. In pursuit of the shiny yellow metal, whole mountains are ground up and rendered forever polluted and toxic. Many of these mines are vast enough to be visible from space. That program, and the age-old story of human greed, became the seed for THE MINE.

My hobbies include reading, boating, fishing, and hiking. I am currently working on my next novel. I hope you enjoy reading THE MINE and would be happy to hear your thoughts. Feel free to write me at dancobb@themine-thebook.com.

Best Regards,

Dan Cobb