Mark David Albertson was born and raised in Los Alamos, New Mexico, known as “The Atomic City,” and was the birthplace of the atomic bomb. Tucked in the mountains of northern New Mexico, Mark grew up in a secured city with gates, armed guards, and mountain patrols in the surrounding mountains. Mark’s passions growing up were skiing, hiking, fishing and camping, and he spent much of his youth under the stars in his beloved Jemez Mountains.Although Los Alamos was a wonderful place to grow up, Mark longed for adventure. He joined the Navy after graduating from high school and set off for the adventure only a sailor could have. In his time in the navy, he became a radioman and visited 19 countries. Mark left the navy with an idea for a novel, based in part upon his experiences and those of his shipmates. Little did he know it would take forty-two years to accomplish this goal.Following his discharge from the navy, Mark moved to San Antonio, Texas, where he went to college and served in the Texas Air National Guard as a police staff sergeant. Upon graduating from college, Mark attended law school at St. Mary’s University. Following his law school graduation, he moved to Washington State, where he lived for the next thirty-four years.Mark’s career and the raising of three children took precedent over novels but not his writing. Mark wrote dozens of articles, two law books, and collaborated on several more over his career, and on the side, built a successful private investigation practice and a speaking practice. Mark spoke to dozens of organizations and gave over a thousand seminars and speeches.When the 2000s came, Mark suffered a series of painful events. His 24-year marriage ended in 2005, he was diagnosed with a rare cancer with little hope of surviving and became involved in a twelve-year dysfunctional relationship. In 2017, he left his career and extracted himself from the dysfunctional relationship, determined to live a life he had chosen, which he did. It turned out to be the best choice of his life as he met a wonderful, kind, and loving life partner and wife, who encouraged him to finish the book that had been in his head for all those years. They moved from Washington, bought a small ranch (Mark says “It’s 90 acres shy of 100”) in the Hill Country of Texas, and both Mark and his beloved Astóre began writing professionally.Mark’s first book, Steaming, was the completion of a 42-year goal, and was followed closely by his second book, Spying in 2021. His third book, Stalking, was published in 2022. His Fourth novel, “Jemez,” was published in May of 2023. It was an Amazon Best Seller in its first week of publication. "Jemez" was a finalist for the 2023 Global Literary Book Awards, and was highlighted in New Mexico Magazine's December, 2023 issue. The book has received critical praise. Mark is hard at work on his next book, what he calls a "quirky crime-ish" novel.Read more about this authorRead less about this author