C. Richard Cotton was born on a U.S. Army post in South Carolina. He spent the next 18 years following his father from assignment to assignment, seeing much of Europe and most of the United States. While living in Denmark, he became an avid reader, partly because of long, cold winters when outside activities were curtailed, partly because reading English-language books was a way to connect to the States and partly because Danish television was on only a couple hours a day. "The Flintstones" and "Perry Mason" were the only American shows broadcast. After departing college, without a degree, Richard was a Volkswagen mechanic, bartender and worked numerous other vocations before settling into carpentry. Moonlighting as a longshoreman on the Mississippi River south of Baton Rouge, he was injured in 1985 and couldn't work a couple months. He began writing stories for local magazines and newspapers during that time. Today, thousands of articles and thousands of photos later, he has penned his first book, "Then Came Cancer: A Love Story." Richard lives today near Saltillo, Mississippi, home for the past 20 years. Most of his five children and four grandchildren live nearby. He is working on his next book, to be announced at a later date.
