PORTFOLIO

An ill-planned pregnancy forces teenage Bill Ellis to confront the grim obstacles of adulthood, as he is thrust into a career as a police officer in order to support his rapidly-growing family. His passion for going to college and eventually becoming an actor and performer doesn’t mesh well with the politics and no-nonsense attitude of the cop world, so he flips the script. This true story of coming-of-age, which appeared as headlines in Southern California for years, unwinds with a robbery gone wrong, hostages taken, and a standoff with his so-called “brothers in blue.”       

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My father and I spent four years writing this story together: the story of his life. After over a year of pitching, we learned of its acceptance for publication a few months before he died. Seeing the novel through to publication on my own has been a difficult and rewarding experience.