South Carolina author and editor Daniel Elton Harmon has written more than 30 nonfiction books. Recently published by Chelsea House are Nigeria and Sudan, two of his six volumes in the "Exploration of Africa: The Emerging Nations" series; The Titanic, part of the "Great Disasters: Reforms and Ramifications" series; and several juvenile biographies in the "Explorers of New Worlds" series.

He began writing for newspapers and magazines while in college (University of South Carolina, B.A. in journalism, 1972). His freelance articles have appeared in such periodicals as Nautilus, Music Journal and The New York Times. He served for a decade in various writing and editing roles for The Dispatch-News in his Lexington, South Carolina, hometown; he later wrote a human interest column for The Lexington County Chronicle.

Harmon has been the associate editor and art director of Sandlapper: The Magazine of South Carolina since 1989 and managing editor (now editor) of The Lawyer’s PC, a technology newsletter for legal professionals published by West Group, since 1983. His book career, meanwhile, began in 1993. After abridging and editing a number of Christian classics for Barbour Publishing, Inc., he wrote five titles for Barbour in 1996-97: four book-length "Great Clean Jokes" compilations and Men of the Bible: Fifty Biographical Sketches of Biblical Men. For two years he edited The Christian Bed & Breakfast Directory published by Barbour.

Since 1997, Harmon also has written more than 20 books for Chelsea House on topics ranging from the American Revolution and Civil War to psychological disorders to government agencies.

The Chalk Town Train & Other Tales is his first book of fiction and the first of his series of short story collections that follow the career of Harper the crime reporter. More than 40 subsequent stories in the series are "germinated," as he puts it. "Some of them are rather developed. Others are just seeds of plots or brief scenes or bits of dialogue which I can't wait to dig into —— but I need time for that. I hope to have the second volume ready in mid-to-late 2002, but it won't be forced."

Meanwhile, several more of his nonfiction books also are in the works. They include his final volume (Southeast Africa) in Chelsea House' "Exploration of Africa" series and a 1,200-question compendium of Bible "trivia" for Crossings Book Club.

A native of rural Lexington County, South Carolina, Harmon now lives in Spartanburg, South Carolina, with his wife Sherie and daughters Jessica and Alison; his oldest daughter Courtney is an art director and Web designer in Greenville, South Carolina. He is a member of Spartanburg Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church. His special interests include folk music (especially traditional British Isles ballads/tunes) and maritime history.