From Renata With Love

Biographie de Douglas C. Smyth

I have written novels for 30+ years, but I also taught college, in Florida and in the Mid-Hudson Valley, NY. My favorite teaching gig was in a prison program in NY. I taught a total of 27 years. I did not teach writing; i wrote while I taught: Political Science, Economics and one Anthropology course, all integral parts of my Ph. D. I spent years abroad: Turkey and Germany in the Army, India for a dissertation research year.
I've also spent time with my mother's family in Venezuela, and traveled in Latin America and Europe extensively, sometimes for my wife's novel research. All of these venues are reflected in my novels. I've been married for 41 years, and have three wonderful adult children living in far corners, even beyond the USA. I live in a beautiful place in the Hudson Valley, up near the Gunks. Several of my novels take place abroad some of the time, like Body Destiny, while From Renata With Love is only in New York state, but crosses color, class and the law.
Two other online novels are historical: Attila as Told to His Scribes, an autobiography, and I, Zerco, another autobiography of Attila's sometime opponent, at court, available elsewhere. I also have another novel upcoming; it will be in print and online: Princess Olga: Uncovering My Headstrong Mother's Venezuelan Connection, an autobiography of a different kind: she dreams her childhood in Trinidad, and how she forced her wealthy family to flee to New York.