My Bio | Ryan Plut, Author

Biography

A native of Seattle, Washington, my journey to becoming a novelist has been a life-long one. I’ve always thought I had a novel in me, but never had the inspiration (or the time) until I retired.

From a young age, I was influenced by stories of wartime struggles. In those days, a film produced a mere 10 or 15 years after World War II would appear in theaters, then might be shown on television. These were sweeping epics, set in foreign locales––many of these featured the actor William Holden in an exotic foreign locale, romantically involved with an exotic woman. Growing up as a teen in the late 1960s, my parents were slowly sinking towards a divorce. They had heated arguments. My father became distant, and then he left. As an escape from the family turmoil, I immersed myself in these films.

I served in the US Army as a mechanic, stationed in Germany in the late ’70s. A few years after this, I began my career in transportation design. At the time, the CPR steamer Princess Marguerite II regularly traveled between Seattle and Victoria, Canada. I rode it three times until it was retired from service, then scrapped. It was the last coastal steamer and its sudden departure shocked me. It was the end of an era that had disappeared forever.

I became very interested in the era of "romantic" ocean liners, and steamships in general. But it wasn’t until I saw the engine room scene in the film The Sand Pebbles that I realized how interested I was in actual steam power.

Later, I went through a film noir phase, until I discovered the books of Eric Ambler, the man who invented the genre in 1935. These were followed by the books of Philip Kerr with his ‘Bernie Gunther’ detective series, and Alan Furst. These, too, followed the same patterns; exotic locales and exotic women, and wartime. Everything I know about pacing, plot development, and scene, comes from watching these old movies. I’ve been told more than once “Your novels read like an old black-and-white film.” I take that as a high compliment.

I retired in 2010. Casting about for something to do, I became a member of the Northwest Steam Society, and also the Steamboat Association of Great Britain. A life-long boat owner of both power and sail, my “retirement boat” is a steamboat I built myself.

I love traveling, having visited Greece, Britain, Japan, Ireland and most recently, Malta and Croatia. Oftentimes, this has given me inspiration to write. HEAVY CARGO is my first novel. THE BELFAIR PINCH is the sequel to it. THE BITTER PIT OF THE CHERRY is the third in this loose trilogy. It will hopefully be published in 2025.

Ryan Plut is 69 years old and lives in Portland, Oregon. He is married to Karen (Keefer) Plut. They are child-free but have taken in and raised many “kids” who meow.