"I believe that a writer should constantly feed his fires by being on the go, doing different things, seeking new experiences. In the way of practicing that philosophy, I have been, variously, a newspaperman, prize-fighter manager, merchant seaman, naval officer, magazine writer, movie publicist and production assistant and documentary filmmaker. I have worked in Japan, Taiwan and Hong Kong, as well as in most of the European countries. Some of the background in my novel. The Cay, came as a result of living in the Caribbean, principally in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands."¹

"I was born in Statesville, North Carolina, last of six children of Edward Riley Taylor and Elnora Alma Langhans: four sisters and a brother, Edward, who had died of pneumonia two years previously, at the age of two. My mother was then in her early forties and I suppose I was spoiled by my...