After two decades in the business world, Gary Tillery turned his time and energy to creative endeavors. Based on his Vietnam experiences, he published a collection of intertwined short stories titled Darkling Plain (one took First Prize in a contest judged by Ray Bradbury), and he authored a series of humorous novels featuring a soft-boiled detective known as "Monterey Jack." Quest Books published his spiritual biographies of John Lennon, George Harrison, and Elvis Presley. The first was named Official Book of the 2010 John Lennon Tribute, and translated into German, French, and Portuguese. The latter was a featured book of the Patheos Book Club. He is author of Yeshua, My Beloved, a fact-based, exhaustively documented novel about the life of Jesus, and has published three books of poetry, most notably The Ghosts of Wrigley Field. Tillery is also a professional sculptor-his most prominent work the centerpiece for Chicago's Vietnam Veterans Memorial. His sculpture "They Also Serve" is in the permanent collection of the National Veteran's Art Museum, and he created the bronze bust of Steve Allen for the Steve Allen Theater in Hollywood. He is a member of the Rotblatt Amrany Studio, for which he has executed a number of public sculptures on view across the country.