Russ Roach was born outside of Red Rock, Oklahoma, on January 6, 1947, in his grandfather’s three-room oil field shack, which had no running water or electricity. The son of a truck driver, he lived in thirty houses by the time he was twelve years old and attended eight different elementary schools.

Russ paid for his entire degree at Oklahoma State University by washing dishes, delivering pizza, and performing many other jobs. He was the first in his family to attend college, and he earned his graduate degree at the University of Cincinnati.

After college, Russ was a consultant to local governments, then served in the Oklahoma Legislature for sixteen years. Russ was suspected of being the anonymous author of a popular satirical political column distributed at the Capitol and by the Oklahoma Press Association. Despite the waterboarding, Russ never confessed. Russ is currently retired and lives in Tulsa, Oklahoma, with his wife, Cheryl, and son, Ryan.

About his book, AT THE INTERSECTION:

The book is a contemporary fictional memoir. Norman Patton struggles with the gap left by an absent father and the misfire with his first true love. He inherently recognizes the need to reflect on and reconnect with essential dates, places, and people that shape our past and soul.