This is the first of a 4-part series in which I hope to (re)introduce you to the main characters in my Seeds of Civilization and Parallel Ops series of mystery/adventure novels.

Frank Morton appears on Page 1 of Book 1 and he remains the main character throughout the entire first series. When you first meet Frank, he’s a grieving widower who has just experienced a very positive, life-changing event. He decides to use his good fortune to do something positive with his life and, coincidently, his old friend, Tony Nicoletti, shows up with a mysterious black sphere he acquired in a bar north of Las Vegas. Intrigued with the sphere and its cryptic symbols, Frank sets off for Las Vegas to learn more and the rest, as they say, is history.

While in Las Vegas, Frank begins to assemble his team – the characters you will meet over the next three days – and he eventually forms a non-profit organization called NWIDI to pursue his life-long interest in ancient archeological mysteries. After their successful mission in my first novel, Tractrix , they head off to a tiny Japanese island in the China Sea to explore a 9,000-year-old underwater pyramid  in Tsubute, and then to the Caribbean to explore the submerged ruins of an ancient city in Triangle, the third and final book in the Seeds series. While Frank is mentioned numerous times in the first three books of the Parallel Ops series, he doesn’t really have a speaking part. Maybe he’ll return in The Teachers, the final book of this series!

To help you better understand Frank, here’s his back story prior to the Seeds series:

Dr. Frank Morton grew up as a military “brat” and traveled from base to base until he joined the Air Force himself at 18. Trained as a Pararescueman, Frank is experienced in both sky diving and SCUBA diving. After an extended tour in Viet Nam, Frank graduated from the University of Washington and went to work for Boeing as an engineer. He married Donna Sommerset in 1982 and the couple settled in Seattle’s trendy Waterfront district.

 Frank earned his Ph.D. in aerospace engineering through a work-study program and in 1999 he was picked to lead a team of Boeing scientists and engineers developing components for the International Space Station. Two days after Christmas, 2000, Donna was killed in a freak automobile accident near the couple’s condo and Frank spiraled into a period of deep depression. On June 13, 2001, Frank was the sole winner of an $86 million lottery jackpot.

I’ll see you tomorrow with a little about NWIDI’s “Number 2,” Tony Nicoletti.