Author — Rancher — Fighter Pilot — Test Pilot — Consultant
Mike Rhynard
Mike Rhynard has been involved in cattle ranching since age seven; and from the time he could read, he’s been an ardent and enthusiastic student of American history. In addition, he’s a retired operational fighter pilot, combat veteran, developmental test pilot, and aerospace engineer and consultant.
Mike has enjoyed writing since grade school; and in the course of his professional careers, authored numerous technical publications. But as he wrote fighter aircraft evaluations and space transportation plans, an unrealized passion to write historical fiction simmered and grew just below the threshold of his consciousness. Finally, in the early 90’s, his daughter’s academic experiences convinced him that American schools no longer taught a comprehensive core of American History. So, in righteous retaliation, he wrote “Dangerous Dreams” as a Young Adult novel, with the belief that a series of fast-paced, adventurous historical fiction novels could insidiously teach the history the schools were not. However, when a reviewing agent kindly suggested that Mike re-write the story as an adult novel, the idea resonated with him; and after a 19 year hiatus to run the family cattle ranch and his aerospace consulting firm, he embarked on the journey in 2011.
He published the adult version of “Dangerous Dreams” in October 2015, and will begin plotting and researching his next historical fiction novel in 2016. Mike Rhynard lives on his family’s ranch in the breathtaking Rocky Mountains, with his long-suffering, but still loving, wife and hordes of hopelessly adoring animals.