HILL, A. J. 1946-

PERSONAL: Born November 21, 1946, in Philadelphia, PA; son of Alvin Joseph (an executive) and Elizabeth (an information technologist; maiden name, Berry) Hill; married Marcy Roeder (a teacher and social worker), February 28, 1969; children: Christie Summer, Aaron Micah. Education: Michigan State University, B.S., 1968; California Institute of Technology, Ph.D., 1978; University of Miami, Coral Gables, FL, M.D., 1982. Hobbies and other interests: Inventing.

ADDRESSES: Home—P.O. Box 133, Nederland, CO 80466. Offıce—150 Elden St., Suite 200, Herndon, VA 20170. Agent—Al Zuckerman, Writers House, 21 West 26th St., New York, NY 10010. E-mail—cshamh@ earthlink.net.

CAREER: Worked as an anesthesiologist at a hospital in Reston, VA, 1987-97, and at a medical office in Herndon, VA, 1997—. Also worked as a teacher. Military service: U.S. Navy, worked as physicist.

AWARDS, HONORS: Woodrow Wilson fellowship, 1969.

WRITINGS:

The Patient's Guide to Anesthesia: Making the RightChoices, Kensington Publishing (New York, NY), 1999.

Under Pressure: The Final Voyage of SubmarineS-Five, Free Press (New York, NY), 2002.

Contributor to books. Contributor to medical journals.

WORK IN PROGRESS: A novel about white-water kayaking.

SIDELIGHTS: A. J. Hill told CA: "I began writing in 1998 after a successful career in medicine. The old adage 'write about what you know' certainly applies to my first book. The Patient's Guide to Anesthesia: Making the Right Choices was addressed to the thousands of surgical patients I'd met who didn't know anything about the experience they were about to undergo. My second book was an illustration of another dictum: 'Writing is like true love.' That is, you can never tell when a wonderful topic will appear. The subject for Under Pressure: The Final Voyage of Submarine S-Five came to me in the form of a letter to the editor of the Washington Post.

"I'm fortunate to be able to write as a labor of love, rather than as an occupation. Consequently I don't need to search for a new topic; if something worthwhile presents itself, I'll start a new book, otherwise I won't. To the extent that this is possible, I would recommend that new writers adopt this attitude. I see far too many examples of authors turning out mediocre work after wonderful debuts, probably because they felt they had to write about something to take advantage of their first success.

"So many people have remarked that the S-Five story would make a wonderful movie that I've considered trying my hand at a screenplay, but I understand that a screenwriter usually has little control over his work once it leaves his hands. As a result, I've decided to let someone else write the screenplay of Under Pressure."