Welcome! I'm William Hammett, author of several novels, short stories, and poems. I taught writing at colleges and universities for twenty-two years and have been a ghostwriter and editor for sixteen. I read a Perry Mason novel when I was seven. I didn't understand the entire plot, but I fell in love with the words, descriptions, and characters. I wrote my own Perry Mason story (three single-spaced pages on an old manual typewriter) and sent it to Erle Stanley Gardner, author of the Mason novels. He wrote back and thanked me for the story, adding that he hoped I would continue writing and one day give him some competition in the bookstore. He was a class act. My poetry has appeared in journals such as Poem, Black Buzzard Review, Rockford Review, Parnassus Literary Journal, Lynx, Pegasus, Twilight Ending, and many others. My short story "Orphans" may be found in The Rose and Thorn Journal. I published JOHN LENNON AND THE MERCY STREET CAFE, a work of magical realism, in 2007. It was taught in university English courses on that genre. I recently published CIRCLING GOES THE WIND (middle reader) and RIMSKY RISES (Young Adult). Out of print and previously unpublished books under my own name will be released this year. STREET MAGIC and THE GOST OF RICHARD BRAUTIGAN will be published in March, 2015. Thanks for stopping by!