David earned a Bachelor of Science in Honors English from the United States Naval Academy. That’s not a typo. He’s probably the only English major you’ll ever meet who took multiple semesters of calculus, physics, chemistry, electrical engineering, naval architecture, and weapons systems just so he could read some Shakespeare. It was totally worth it.
After meeting Tom Clancy and reading The Hunt for Red October as a midshipman at the Naval Academy, he spent six years as a commissioned officer in the nuclear-powered submarine force chasing the Russians in the frigid waters of the North Atlantic. When the Soviet Union collapsed, David left the Navy for corporate life. For two decades, he schlepped his way around the globe as an itinerant executive in the high-tech sector, and even did a stint with a Silicon Valley startup.
David is the creator of the sci-fi series The Dream Guild Chronicles and INVINCIBLE, the best-selling tie-in novel to Nick Webb’s Legacy Fleet military sci-fi series. His short fiction has appeared in numerous venues including Compelling Science Fiction, Future Chronicles, and Beyond the Stars.
David also co-authors novels in two different genres. With retired naval intel officer JR Olson, he writes contemporary national security thrillers that look less like fiction every time he checks the news. With co-author Chris Pourteau, David wrote the sci-fi series, The SynCorp Saga, about the corporate takeover of the solar system.
Below is an interview with Karen Kodzik from Cultivating Careers about David's transition from corporate executive to full-time writer.
Meet the Co-Authors
JR and David
J. R. Olson
Commander, US Navy (Retired)
Jon “J.R.” Olson was commissioned in May 1990 from the US Naval Academy with a BS in History. His 21-year career as a naval intelligence officer included over three years aboard aircraft carriers and large-deck amphibious assault ships. He served in Operation SOUTHERN WATCH (Iraq), Operation RESTORE HOPE (Somalia), Operation JOINT FORGE (Bosnia), and in Operation ENDURING FREEDOM (Afghanistan). Along the way, he earned an MA in National Security and Strategic Studies at the US Naval War College, as well as logged 35 parachute jumps as a US Navy Parachutist. His final assignment before retirement was as the US Naval Attaché at the US Embassy in Helsinki, Finland. Jon also received CIA training as a case officer for the Department of Defense, recruiting spies for America through strategic-level clandestine human intelligence (HUMINT) operations. After retiring from the Navy in 2011, Jon earned a Master of Public Affairs at the Humphrey School while also teaching college courses on national security at Carleton College and Metropolitan State University. His core courses include: The US Intelligence Community, Terrorism and Counterterrorism, Studies in Weapons of Mass Destruction, and Statecraft: The Tools of National Power.
Chris Pourteau is co-author of the sci-fi thriller series The SynCorp Saga, the post-apocalyptic Serenity Strain novels, and the military sci-fi collection Tales of B-Company. His first novel, Shadows Burned In, earned the 2015 eLit Book Awards Gold Medal for Literary Fiction.
He’s also edited and curated short story collections including the two animal-centric collections Tails of the Apocalypse and Tails of Dystopia, as well as Bridge Across the Stars, a science fiction collection published by Sci-Fi Bridge, which Chris co-founded. His day job is editor-in-chief for the Texas A&M Transportation Institute, which researches cutting-edge technologies across the transportation spectrum.
When he’s not writing, editing, or working the day job, Chris loves exercising regularly, watching shows like Star Trek and Stranger Things, and reading his favorite authors. Those include Bernard Cornwell, Stephen King, George R.R. Martin, Edgar Allan Poe, and Max Collins. He lives in Texas with his wife, son, and two dogs. (He’s a HUGE dog person, by the way.)
