Jack Gannon is the son of the late Commander John H. Gannon, United States Navy Medical Service Corps, and the late Margaret O. Gannon, both of whom are interred at Beaufort National Cemetery, only 3 miles from where Jack lives. His parents raised him on or near multiple naval bases across the country, from coast to coast and as far west as Kaneohe, Hawaii, from where he has his earliest memories. As a child, his favorite fictional character was Clark Kent of the Daily Planet, not his other identity of Superman! He was fascinated with the news staff in the comics...getting information of things happening before they made it into the newspaper, and that began a very early interest in print media and writing. While attending Fork Union Military Academy in Virginia he worked on the lower school newspaper The Bayonet and the academy yearbook, including one year when he wrote the dedication for the lower school's section of the book. His studies at Winthrop College (now University) in Rock Hill, SC, focused in communications with an emphasis on newspaper and television news. However, his career goal was tossed aside when his mother suffered a massive stroke a week before receiving his Bachelor of Arts degree. He elected to leave his media career behind and return home to help his father care for his mother, and worked a couple of local jobs before gaining a position in The Beaufort Gazette's circulation department as its mailroom supervisor in 1987. During the next fourteen years he worked his way to a front office position until the Gazette and its sister paper, The Island Packet, began merging operations. He was then transferred to the Packet's offices in Bluffton, SC, to manage the customer service staff handling subscribers' delivery needs for both papers. His newspaper career ended in 2011 and he started planning how to fill his days...when he was reunited with his Beaufort High School best friend Cyndi Williams-Barnier. During their school years, they talked about writing books together after they graduated college, but lost contact with each other after high school graduation. Thirty-two years later, after their first dinner together with their spouses, they got around to asking each other, "Where's that book you were going to write?" Both now retired, they immediately picked up where they left off and began writing those decades-old stories, and formed their own writing partnership, J&C Wordsmiths, LLC. Their stories are action/adventure/suspense and fantasy/paranormal, with this book adding the historical/autobiographical genre. He and Cyndi were picked up by PDMI Publishing LLC of Albertville, Alabama, only two years into their new writing career. He is also a member of the International Thriller Writers Association. Jack decided to medically-retire from his Lowcountry Santa position after twenty-three years, but felt that simply retiring after all that time wasn't very polite. He needed to say "thank you" to everyone who kept asking him to bring his Santa and North Pole Family to their events year after year, and the result is the memoir in your hands, "I WALKED IN SANTA'S BOOTS". When not writing, Jack prefers the tranquility of his Beaufort, South Carolina home with his wife, Mendy, and Pomeranian, Tasia. Cyndi Williams-Barnier was born in Beaufort, graduated from Beaufort High School, and attended the University of South Carolina/Beaufort. Her early childhood interest in arts and literature surely had a helping hand when the two started writing together. Cyndi is retired from State and County Government, spending over two decades working primarily for the Beaufort County Emergency Management Division and a few years with the State Probation / Parole / Pardons Agency. Cyndi and Jack attended high school together in the 1970's, and quickly became good friends. They often toyed around with the same stories and plots which are written in their books today. However, the two went their separate ways after high school and lost tract of each other, not to reunite until 32 years later. Both had retired and eagerly picked up where they left off, as if nothing had changed. They're now writing the books they talked of long ago. Cyndi's life and knowledge of government precedes her, in that her father was the Chief Jailer for the Beaufort County Sheriff's Department in the 1960's and 1970's. "I practically grew up in the old Jail." Barnier said. "Even as a tiny girl I'd get ready to go to work with Daddy and would accompany him throughout the day. I watched as he booked prisoners, made cell checks, dispatched calls, and on many occasions witnessed fights where Daddy and the other jailers had to jump in and fix the situation. On occasion he'd even let me trail along in the woods, searching for moonshine stills...and while there he'd take down a deer or some quail to bring home for dinner. My childhood was quite interesting, dramatic, and different. Cyndi and Jack were taken on by a publisher, surprisingly early in their career. PDMI Publishing LLC of Albertville, Alabama, started reading their works, liked what they saw, and contracted with them just two years into their business. The genre they began writing is psychological/suspense/thriller/adventure, subtitled as the Task Force Series. Book one is titled Murder in Twos and Threes, holding a 5-star rating on Amazon from day one. The Beaufort Film Festival heard about the book and asked them to write a screen-play. Though it didn't win at the Film Festival, it did garner interest from several movie agencies. The two are members of the International Thriller Writers Association. They travel frequently to book signings and seminars, always with more books in writing! When Cyndi's not tied to the computer screen, you can probably find her tending to the office staff: One dog and six cats!