
I'm a huge fan of due South, Bones, The X-Files, Firefly and Highlander. I have recently gotten into the storylines of Buffy and Angel. I've authored a few stores for due South, with some Bones fics rolling around in my head. I've been reading FF.net for a while now, and only recently decided to upload my dS stories from some years ago. All of the dS stories were originally published on the Red Suits You email list.
My writing styles are definitely affected by Gary Paulsen and J.C. Hutchins. Two very different authors, to be sure, but both excellent. While I'm on the jag of pimping audio fiction (I am currently addicted to audio fiction in all forms), please check out J.C.'s work as well as anything by Mur Lafferty and Scott Sigler. Good stuff and nice to have while on the road.
My day job is pretty cool and, despite not being actual Law Enforcement work, I do, on a fairly regular basis, work with LE personnel and that gives me some insight on procedure and training. In the past I've also worked with Corrections personnel (both Officers and Offenders). Many of my friends and family members are or were military, even though I never served. I spend a LOT of time outdoors, so I am somewhat familiar with what is and is not possible with decomp in a normal environment (at the very least, the environment I'm used to). I have several proud "Fraser" moments of telling what's going on due to sounds, smells, or tasting something in the air. If I'm unsure about something I do my Googling. What this comes down to is: I'd like to believe much of what's in my stories is plausible, even if I do take some dramatic license.
Other jobs and skills in no particular order: tech support, bartending, park maintenance, wastewater disposal operator, drinking water treatment operator, wildlife biological sample getter, wildlife population and reproduction monitor, knitting camp participant, insulation hanger, drain fixer, toilet scrubber, recreation program planner, backpacker, webmaster, hockey fan, dog trainer, heavy equipment operator, and I can walk and chew gum at the same time. I can't swim, I fear snakes (dead or alive), and I will pick up a dead fish but will not touch an alive fish. I also get grossed out by fatty tumors, even though I will remove various glands for testing from carcasses in various states of decomposition.
I have found a very similar live action (aka "real world") local diner like The Diner just off an interstate in northeastern Indiana. It's one of my favorite places since no matter what's going on in your life, you can go there at 3 in the morning and someone's grandma will make you pancakes. It's a hole in the wall but that only adds to the awesomeness of the place.
If you find yourself at a diner at 3 am it is either entirely too early or entirely too late to be awake.