Author

Doug Walker holds degrees in physics and electrical engineering, and, as he says, is interested in almost everything. His first novel is Gaia Twist. In addition to writing, his varied  career has so far included roles as an engineer, a corporate executive, a manager at a nonprofit, founder of a national software and consulting company, and a business consultant. He lives near Boulder, Colorado.

The longer story:
Doug grew up in Vermont, dreaming of the future worlds described by authors like Isaac Asimov, Robert Heinlein, and Arthur C. Clarke, not to mention the original Star Wars.  After graduating high school, he had trouble deciding between a career in writing or one in engineering. Finally, at Carleton College, he chose to major in physics because it was just so darn interesting, and he contented himself with enjoying books by other people named Douglas, like the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams.

After earning a master’s degree in electrical engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, he joined AT&T Bell Labs in New Jersey as a systems engineer, working on data communications systems before they started being called the internet. (He did not, however, invent the internet.)  It was soon discovered that he was better at applying engineering than actually doing it, so he became a manager and took on increasingly responsible roles at AT&T, leading organizations that did network planning, software, and business strategy.

When Doug’s oldest child was about to start first grade, he and his wife started panicking about the likelihood of her acquiring a permanent Jersey accent, so they quickly moved to Boulder, Colorado, where Doug became the chief information officer for a division of GE. From there he made a leap to the nonprofit world, joining the Orton Family Foundation to direct the development of an innovative community planning software called CommunityViz. The project went well, and after a few years Doug and his wife spun off their own new company called Placeways that provided CommunityViz and planning services to cities throughout North America and around the world.  His first book, The Planners Guide to CommunityViz (no relation to the Hitchhiker’s Guide), co-authored with UPenn professor Tom Daniels, is a practical how-to guide full of case studies and examples.

Planning the future of real cities and regions gave Doug a wealth of ideas and perspectives on what makes places tick, and those ideas provided the first seeds of inspiration for Gaia Twist. When the Walkers sold Placeways, Doug could hardly wait to sit down and finally, many years after reading his first Asimov, start writing.

Buy Gaia Twist today on Amazon, get it on Kindle, or ask for it at your local bookseller.

Photo: Studio 220 Photography