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On November 26, 1957, his eighteenth birthday, Bill entered the U.S. Army for what was to become a twenty two year career. Serving in various locations around the world, he was eventually promoted to Sergeant and served in Vietnam from March of 1966 until November of 1967.
In September of 1979, Bill retired from the Army as a First Sergeant. It was from this rank that he gained a new nickname. His friends began calling him "Top", as in "Top Sergeant", an informal form of address for First Sergeants in the U.S. Army. He has had several poems on the hardships of war published under this name.
After retirement, he took up residence in Rockford, Illinois, as a teacher in Military ROTC at a local high school. Dissatisfied with this work, he entered the security business and worked in this field for the next 10 years. As a result of many promotional relocations and having to deprive himself and his family of a real home life, he finally walked away from "Corporate Ladder Climbing" in 1990 as a vice president for a major national firm.
"I've always had an urge to become a writer of fiction. I've read a lot of books in my life, most of which I've enjoyed a great deal. Some I found lacking and often thought, I can do better than that. Now is the time of life for me to find out if this is true."
His first published novel, GATEWAY TO EDEN, will be released by Northwest Publishing Inc. in April of 1996. Another novel, tentatively titled WORLDS BEYOND/THE NEW EARTH, the first in a series of WORLDS BEYOND novels, should be released later in 1996.
He currently resides in Las Vegas, Nevada, and can be reached via email at webshultz@hotmail.com
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