Mark Grove

My interests now are reading, writing, and cooking. For much of my 70+ years I was an avid collector. It was one of the worst habits to kick. For 25 years I fed the habit as an antiques dealer. Shopping was half of the job description. Except for auctioneering, I was involved in all other categories of the business: picker, shopkeeper, mall operator, eBayer, restoration, schlepping, trading, hauling, and lastly a PBS TV personality (Chesapeake Collectibles 2010-2020), etc. I used to make a living as an accredited appraiser (ASA, RICS, AAA) in Northern Virginia, but nowadays I'm retired in Florida with my Peruvian wife, Chany.

I like to write G-rated literature, science fiction, short stories, how-to business guides, and I publish some of grad school papers. Presently, I am converting my hard copy master's thesis to digital format with the intent of it becoming an ebook, audiobook, paperback.

In my Picker Series (literature), the main characters, Charles and Emma Dawes, travel about Virginia, the United States, Europe, and the rest of the world searching for undervalued treasures ("sleepers"). Most of the anecdotes are based on my real experience. First in this series is, The Madison Picker. Its sequel is Some Kind of Good. The third title in the series, South Boston Beauty, is in development.

And then I’ve written a sci-fi series employing the same characters (still rated G). This series is sequel the Picker Series. The scifi series is called, the Conglomerate Series. The Serapis Fraktur, the first title. Its sequel is The Scalar Magnitude (in developement), and there are standalone short stories and novellas, too: The Pilot, Retread Operator, The Reaper, and Time Machine Administration. The Pilot is also in Spanish.