Mark Scantland was born in Orlando Florida in 1952. His parents relocated back to Indiana where Mark spent his childhood in Muncie Indiana. After graduating from high school Mark worked various jobs including installing carpet, painting contractor, electronic security systems specialist. Mark married at age 21 and enlisted in the Indiana Army National Guard and held a secret security clearance and served in a signal battalion 1972-78. His Father and Father-in-law both served in the Army during WW2. Mark and his wife raised 3 children and he spent the next 32 years building industrial and institutional electrical control systems. Always a daydreamer, his desire to write grew as the years passed by. Now retired he officially began dreaming on paper, hence The Blackbird Threat.