Background

Peter Heck was born on September 4, 1941, in Chestertown, Maryland, United States. He is the son of Preston Patterson Heck, a lawyer, and Ermyn Heck, a teacher.

Education

Peter Heck studied at Harvard University where he received his Bachelor of Arts degree. At Johns Hopkins University, he got a Master of Arts degree. He also completed a doctoral study at Indiana University in Bloomington.

Career

Before becoming a writer and editor, Peter Heck worked at Sam Ash Music in Long Island as a sales manager, then as a manager of an air freight company. He was an educator at Temple University and at Harvard University as well.

From 1990 till 1992 he worked as an editor at Ace Books in New York City and created the science fiction newsletter Xignals and its mystery equivalent Crime Times for the Waldenbooks chain. As a reviewer for Asimov's Science Fiction, Heck has written the On Books review column since its June 1994 issue. He has also contributed to Locus and The New York Review of Science Fiction.

Heck's The Mark Twain Mysteries began from the book Death on the Mississippi (1995). Hereafter, he published five books featuring the famous author Mark Twain.

Heck collaborated with Robert Lynn Asprin on four volumes of the latter's Phule's Company series of Military SF/Space Opera romps, beginning with Phule's Company #3: A Phule and His Money (1999). He was also one of the many collaborators on the spoof Atlanta Nights (2005) as by Travis Tea.

In 2007, Heck began working as a reporter at the Kent County News in Chestertown, where he and his wife moved. His work for the paper includes articles on local government and history and coverage of the arts.

He also wrote the 36th chapter of Atlanta Nights, a book meant to ruin PublishAmerica's reputation.

Achievements

• Peter Heck won several awards from the MDDC Press Association for his work at the Kent County News.

Works

More photos

• audiobook

  • The mysterious strangler

    (A trip to sunny Florence provides some much-needed rest a...)

    2000
  • Tom's Lawyer

    (On a lecture tour, Mark Twain is reunited with Tom Blanke...)

    2001

• book

  • The Prince and the Prosecutor

    (Working with the great Mark Twain is a job Wentworth Cabo...)

    1997
  • Death on the Mississippi

    (So with his new secretary, Wentworth Cabot, Twain caught ...)

    1995
  • A Connecticut Yankee in criminal court

    (A beautiful city with ugly traditions of corruption and r...)

    1996
  • The guilty abroad

    (Mark Twain is in merry old England to see his family. Wen...)

    1999

Views

Peter Heck’s lifelong interest in writer Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain) led him to produce a successful trilogy of mystery novels that feature the great American author as their protagonist.

Quotations: "I wanted to be a writer at an early age, but (like most others, I think) had no idea how to become one. My parents encouraged me to read, and I did: Poe, Twain, science fiction, Hemingway, and the Beats - who gave me an image of the writer pouring out his soul onto paper, like a jazz musician in- anting a solo. It wasn’t until much later that I earned I couldn’t work that way."

"Editing a regular newsletter (interviewing more than a hundred authors in the process) gave me the tools and discipline to become a professional writer."

"The freelance life is inherently unstable, but I remain optimistic that I’ve finally figured out a way to earn a living by my wits."

Membership

Peter Heck is a member of Science Fiction Writers of America, Mystery Writers of America, and Sisters in Crime.

Personality

Peter Heck plays guitar and banjo in a local band, Col. Leonard's Irregulars. He is also an avid spork collector, with over 500 in his collection.

Interests

• guitar, chess, travel

Connections

In 1966 Peter Heck married Flora Metrick. They have a child, Daniel. In 1988 they divorced. On December 29, 1989, he married Jane Jewell.

Father:

Preston Patterson Heck

Mother:

Ermyn Heck

ex-wife:

Flora Metrick

Wife:

Jane Jewell