Mark Thomas McDonough was born on December 14, 1951, in Cincinnati, Ohio, and grew up both in Cincinnati and surroundings suburbs, including spending four years at a local Catholic Orphanage. At age sixteen, he moved his mom and younger siblings to New York City. Shortly thereafter, at age seventeen, he joined the U.S. Army (1968-71). He completed Combat Engineer Training, Airborne Training, Parachute Rigger School and Instructor Training. He served as both a Parachute Rigger and Perimeter Guard in Vietnam (1970-71). After Vietnam, he was an Instructor at the Parachute Rigger School and helped form the first NCO Academy also located at Ft. Lee, Virginia. The author, armed with his GED Diploma (courtesy of the Army) attended and graduated from the City College of New York (1977) and law school (1980). He passed the then infamous New York State Bar Exam first time around. In 1981 the author joined the Army as a trial lawyer. During the course of the next four plus years, he became one of most prolific and successful criminal trial attorneys in Jag Corp history, earning him the fearsome nickname "The Hitman." The author also became one of the foremost experts for the Army in writing for and running the Army's Law of War program(s). Subsequently, he became one of, if not the foremost, experts for the federal government in Space Law and was significantly involved in one of the U.S. Government's high-tech (classified) space projects. Along the way, the author worked in the areas of EEOC and Information Law (primarily for the Department of Veterans Affairs). Interestingly, midway through the author's aforementioned Jag Tour of duty, after he volunteered to become a defense counsel, he subsequently personally investigated and presented evidence against a fistful of General Officers and their subordinates, who had conspired to deny enlisted soldiers fair criminal trials in Germany. Based at least in part on the author's evidence, Congress forced four General Officers to either retire, or in one instance, a General Officer was demoted. Throughout his many years of military, federal government, and civilian experience, the author earned a black belt in both Kung Fu and Tae Kwon Do, inclusive of studying numerous martial arts weapons, including the katana. To this end, he has competed in numerous martial arts competitions. In addition, the author has become a student of psychic intuitive phenomena having studied this area extensively. In this regard, he has attended numerous psychic (Light Worker) seminars. He also earned his "Masters Hypnosis Certificate" and completed the intensive "Life Between Lives" hypnotherapy seminar. When the author is not traveling the globe or visiting family in California and Hawaii, he lives in his beautiful cedar-planked luxury cabin, situated amid the wild and wonderful mountains of rural West Virginia, which is on the fringe of the beautiful Shenandoah Valley. The Glyconian Incident is the author's third full-length science fiction novel and sixth novel overall.