Short Biography

Born in the “Atomic City,” Los Alamos, New Mexico, once the secret site of the Manhattan project, Mark loved and spent most of his time in the outdoors.  Mark joined the navy right after high school at the end of the Vietnam conflict and became a radioman on a destroyer escort. He left the navy with a dream of someday writing a novel incorporating the adventures of a young sailor, and in 2021 made that happen.

Mark has had a varied life, from lawyer to prosecutor to minister to rancher and now, to writer.

Since his navy days, Mark was always a writer.  During his time practicing law and in the ministry, he published books and law journal articles both nationally and internationally, and taught as an adjunct professor at Dominion College, Northwest Baptist Seminary and Faith Evangelical Lutheran Serminary, but he always longed to write novels.  Mark had left the navy with colorful memories of travel to many countries and of the challenges serving at the end of Vietnam and during the cold war.

In 2017, Mark left the practice of law to write his first novel, the acclaimed thriller, Steaming: A Sea Story. In 2021, he published the second book of his Sea story series entitled, Spying: A Sea Story, and the third novel in the series, Stalking: A Sea Story was on the shelves in 2022. His fourth novel, still featuring the protagonist from his first three books is Jemez, set in the scenic mountains of Northern New Mexico. Jemez was an Amazon Bestseller in its first week of publication, was selected as a finalist for the Literary Global Book Award in 2023, and was praised by New Mexico Magazine’s December, 2023 issue in an article entitled “page turners.”

Mark is married to fellow writer KE Meuir and lives in Henderson, Nevada.

IN-DEPTH BIOGRAPHY

Mark David Albertson likes to tell people that he was born and raised in Texas, which is true if you look at an 1845 map of the Republic of Texas, which at that time incorporated what was to become his hometown of Los Alamos, New Mexico. Los Alamos, known as “The Atomic City,” was the birthplace of the atomic bomb. Tucked in the mountains of northern New Mexico, Mark grew up in a secured city with gates, armed guards, and mountain patrols in the surrounding mountains.

Although Los Alamos was a wonderful place to grow up, Mark longed for adventure. He joined the U.S. Navy after graduating from high school and set off for the adventure only a sailor could have. In his time in the navy, he became a radioman and visited 19 countries. Mark left the navy with an idea for a novel, based in part upon his experiences and those of his shipmates. Little did he know that it would take forty-two years to accomplish this goal.

Following his discharge from the navy, Mark moved to San Antonio, Texas, where he went to college and served in the Texas Air National Guard as a police staff sergeant. Upon graduating from college, Mark attended law school at St. Mary’s University. Following his law school graduation, he moved to Washington State, where he lived for the next thirty-four years. During this time Mark worked first as a prosecutor, then as a lawyer in private practice, then entered the ministry full-time as Director of Christian Conciliation Service of Puget Sound. He attended seminary and became an ordained minister. Along the way Mark taught as an adjunct professor at Dominion College, Northwest Baptist Seminary, University of Phoenix and Faith Evangelical Lutheran Seminary.

Mark’s career and the raising of three children took precedent over novels but not his writing. Mark wrote dozens of articles, two law books, and collaborated on several more over his career, and on the side built a successful armed private investigation practice and a speaking practice. Mark spoke to dozens of organizations and gave over a thousand seminars and speeches.

When the 2000s came Mark suffered a series of painful events. His 24-year marriage ended in 2005, he was diagnosed with a rare cancer with little hope of surviving and became involved in a twelve-year, extremely dysfunctional relationship. In 2017 he decided to leave his career, extract himself from the dysfunctional relationship and learn to live a life he had chosen, which he did. It turned out to be the best choice of his life as he met a wonderful, kind, and loving life partner and wife, who encouraged him to finish the book that had been in his head for all those years. They moved from Washington, bought a small ranch (Mark says “It’s 90 acres shy of 100”) in the Hill Country of Texas, and both Mark and his beloved Astore began writing professionally. Mark was thrown from his horse in 2022 (he likes to call it “Buckapocalypse,”) and was severely injured, breaking his back, his neck, his pelvis and assorted ribs and other bones. After a year of painful recovery living life in a wheel chair, then a walker, a cane then on his own, he and his wife decided it was time to find simpler living, and they moved to Henderson Nevada.

Mark’s first book, Steaming, was the completion of a 42-year goal, and was followed closely by his second book, Spying in 2021. His third book, Stalking, was published in 2022. Mark’s fourth novel, Jemez, was published in May of 2023. Jemez was an Amazon Bestseller in its first week of publication, was selected as a finalist for the Literary Global Book Award in 2023, and was praised by New Mexico Magazine’s December, 2023 issue in an article entitled “page turners.” He is currently hard at work on his next novel, another in the Matt Bertram crime thriller series, on track for publication in 2024.