You never know when inspiration will strike. The idea for my next book began more than fifty years ago in the cab of a combine. As a kid growing up on my parents’ farm, sometimes I would climb into the cab of our Allis Chalmers Gleaner combine and pretend that I was flying a space ship across the galaxies. With its floor to ceiling windshield, levers, gauges, and a large steering wheel, it was the perfect setting to fuel my imagination…and my next book.

A couple years ago I began writing a few chapters for a light science fiction book based on the concept of that Gleaner combine and space travel. As the months passed, the plot and story line changed and expanded, but the Gleaner combine remained as a major part of the story. The book also expanded to reflect on the tremendous change that has occurred in the farming community where I spent my childhood. Many of the small farms I knew as a kid are now gone.

The working title for the book is The Last Harvest. I completed the first draft this month and it is currently out for its first round of editing. With more revisions expected after editing, I anticipate the book will be ready for the publisher by late summer or early fall. That would mean a release date early next year.