brad stewart

I was raised in Topanga Canyon, California. Being the fifth of eight children, and surrounded by my confident brothers and sisters, destiny was molding me like a piece of clay to one day write. You couldn’t tell that, by the path my life was on. Eventually I was married, and in 1984, blessed with a son. In 1990, the light shone again, giving me a daughter.

For over thirty years, I’ve been involved in the development of various mechanical systems, simultaneously building a resourceful career in the trades. Two of many U. S. government projects I worked on were the replacement of the Hover Dam turbines and the reconstruction of the Panama Canal. Ten years after completing preconstruction assessments for the Hover Dam venture, I stood on top of the dam and witnessed the enormous turbines being lowered, hundreds of feet, into the magnificent Colorado River Canyon. My writing skills, developed through experience with organizations on many levels, contributed to the writing of, Kayak Reef. since childhood, back in the sixty’s when my seventh grade teacher said, “You have a talent for writing,” I’ve had a secret passion for it. One day, fate stepped in with a writing assignment from my daughter’s middle school, she forgot, and the rest is history. With only a few days to complete the assignment, we worked together day and night. A few days later, she ended up with an “A”, and two years later, I ended up completing the storyline of Kayak Reef.

While writing Kayak Reef, I began white-water kayaking. I’m thankful to have survived many upside-down kayaking adventures, and I’m grateful for this life lesson through literature.